The store is a communication channel: every aspect of layout, range, and merchandising communicates something to the shoppers who choose to visit the store. Taking the example of a relatively innocuous piece of merchandising, originally developed to aid the supply chain process, we will highlight how shoppers react both consciously and sub-consciously to the store environment, and how a real understanding of shoppers can maximise the opportunity for brands or retailers alike.
This work has proved very successful as it has provided retailers with a technique for assessing the functionality of their stores as selling machines. The technique has two main areas of application. Merchandising performance can be effectively assessed especially when the customer information is linked to EPoS data. Analysis of sales to traffic can identify merchandising successes and failures. The video technique can be used to assess display techniques and packaging response and yield better results than a pure analysis of sales. All the display area work can be used for Direct Product Profitability analysis by adding to the subjective areas of the technique such as space rating. The second area of application is that of store monitoring and planning. The models can highlight the difficulties that people encounter when trying to shop a store such as aisle widths, queues and staffing levels. It is now possible to empirically analyse the functionality of store design principles. For example go-track aisles are designed to allow store penetration and separate browsing and movement. However many such tracks prevent merchandise penetration via psychological barriers. The most exiting aspect of this work is the possibility of store planning scenarios. The modelling units above allow the examination of the relationships between the fundamental units of the store and how people move between them. Such data should allow the determination of optimum layouts for new stores given certain physical parameters and managerial objectives. This technique provides retailers with the chance to in- crease the service element of his offer and the efficiency of the selling unit. The competitive advantage offered by this technique can be high as the shopper will be better served by the space around him.
Scan 5000 is the first service tracking permanently consumer consumption and causal data related to the store where they are used to buy. In fact, only 6 % of the household are visiting occasionally large surface stores. In average, a french household is buying his grocery products in three stores. The concept of the service is to record permanently each individual purchase done by 5000 households in ten hypermarkets and supermarkets for all food and drug items. This information is associated with permanent in store observation and display such as prices/brand range/shelf space measurement/special displays, promotions... The system provide the facility to link the offer situation in the store and the consumer reaction. The pre requisite for running regular operations are : - daily detailed for information (consumer and in store), - minimum constraints for our household panelist, - representative assortment, - scanning system and EAN codes. In Europe, only testing tools have been launched using nearly similar concepts (Erim and Scannel in France IRI-GFK. in Germany). The ERIM experience combined with the Scantrack experience from Nielsen US help Nielsen France to launch Scan 5000 in February 1986. This was the first step of a more powerful service combining scanning data, media research data and consumer data.
According to Davidson, this polarity was structured along a single axis opposing mass merchandising and highly specialised boutiques with "conventional and often non programmed single line stores" in between. Such a polarity could be observed for every product line. Reducing the perceptions of store types to a single dimension proved too limited, and Tigert refined the polarity concept by structuring it along two dimensions: small stores vs. warehouse technology on one hand, narrow product line vs. mass merchandising on the other hand. As for Davidson, such a polar structure of stores could be observed for every product line. Both authors provided only a theoretical framework for the polarity concept, but did not attempt to validate it empirically. Thus we should talk in both cases of a concept of normative polarity, i.e. perceptions of store types by customers as they are perceived by an expert. This scheme proves highly stimulating for a deeper investigation of the polarity concept, that would not be based on normative appreciations anymore, but would be derived from customer perceptions of store types and competing stores inside each type.
The subject of children and distribution has never been the object of a specific study. The following report has been drawn from the research which we have been conducting annually in France for more than five years on "the Universe of Aug-14 year olds" and also from various market studies carried out for clients in such areas as food and clothing. Our object is to present provocative remarks destined to stimulate reflection rather than to reassure our audience with concrete and precise answers.
This paper describes the results of a study designed to measure the effects of different promotional activities in stores. Regression analysis, using dummy variables, was used to analyse data obtained from an experimental design incorporating twelve stores over an eight week period. The experimental design consisted of embedding a "cross-over" design, with various combinations of promotional activities being randomly assigned to the remaining cells.
There is not so much a conflict between "range" and "rationalization" as a need for balance between the two: a need to determine the "rational range". The starting point towards this goal is to allocate store space to grocery commodities in relation to their true contribution to the store's profit, taking account of the "space responsiveness" of these commodity groups to changes in space allocation and the store's overall marketing philosophy. Once the frozen food space allocation is determined the issue of the extent of the variety sold through that space may be tackled. Birds Eye has conducted fairly extensive research into these issues, closely examining the consumer's behaviour in the shop. Taking the consumer as the starting point, it is important to recognise that about half of all frozen food purchases are made on impulse. The frozen food display is the key area of consumer interest amongst self-service commodities. Wide variety is a very strong attraction to the impulse shopper, and the benefits of increased range may be quantified. The basic finding of our inventory management studies was that, provided adequate stock cover is maintained, more sales come from improving product variety than from enhancing display impact with additional facings of a lead line.
With the help of the explorative method the knowledge of the housewives who buy in large self-service stores about their shop and their behaviour there were examined, with as underlying question, whether a study of behaviour in the shop is possible via this type of exploration. The individual hypotheses can be seen as having a purpose for further study on the basis of the data obtained.
This paper examines the contribution of market research to the location, development and appraisal of individual stores. More attention is new being devoted to this topic as a result of certain trends in European retailing.
This paper focusses on the changing nature of new product test marketing. Perhaps first, it is appropriate to discuss the reason behind test marketing. The paper describes a survey of test marketing practice covering major American grocery, drug and household products manufacturers. It is based on a sample of both major national advertisers and smaller marketers. It describes the length of time and the scope of today's test markets. And, it describes the changing techniques and how they are viewed by the manufacturer. Finally, the paper discusses the reasons behind the changes taking place, particularly the changes to controlled store testing.
This paper shows not only the development of the retail trade in Slovenia as a consequence of rapid urbanisation but also some methods of research work and their application to the field of the spatial distribution of retail establishments.