The path to purchase is not a straight line, and neither is it a circle as some have described it. It is more like a pool or a “puddle,” says Sonja Mathews, director of strategy and consumer insights, PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y. “We’ve seen a lot of models that are circular in nature. It almost infers a linear relationship to the path to purchase, but I don’t think it is linear. I think a shopper is really a time traveler.”
For instance, she added, when shoppers are in a traditional path-to-purchase venue, which is usually a store, they are referring back to home-based occasions for which they are going through that shopping experience. When they see a particular brand on the shelf, they are thinking back to the time that they tried that brand. When they see something that don’t recognize, they are thinking about future uses for that brand.”
As a result, Mathews said, the path-to-purchase is complete. At any stage in the consumers’ purchase consideration cycle, “the stakes are very high for us – as retailers, as brands, or as agencies – to make or break that tenuous connection. So I really think that the path to purchase is more of a puddle.”
Mathews spoke in Chicago as part of a panel at the annual conference hosted by the Association for Integrated Marketing (formerly the Promotion Marketing Association),
New York.
The path to purchase involves the shopper, but also anyone interested in, affected by, or even observing the brand purchase. “This would be not only people who are pushing the big cart, but also the people who are whispering in the ear of the person pushing the big cart. These are influencers, who might not even be in the store. Then there are those who see somebody else trying something, and think, ‘I wonder if that’s for me.’ That is a magical moment when the path to purchase in the store begins,” Mathews said.
This complicates simpler concepts of path to purchase. “That neat little circle talking about pre-shop, shop and post-shop is maybe not quite so applicable.” Referring to an earlier presentation at the conference by a Target Corp. executive, she pointed out that the retailer practices “three-dimensional selling. They are looking for a problem to solve rather than a brand to sell, and that means they are actually doing something very right.”
Research comparing shopper behavior in 2007 and 2009 gave PepsiCo insight into how the path to purchase changed when the economy went from good to bad, she explained. “What we saw were huge shifts in attitudes, behaviors and trust. Also, we saw a real need for shoppers to build deeper relationships and connections with the retailers, with the brands, and to find sources of information that they could trust,” Mathews said.
Among other findings, PepsiCo saw a “step-change, an increase in pre-shop activity, as well as a huge percentage increase in people that were more aggressively shopping up and down the aisles in the store. We also saw a dramatic and sustained increase in quick trips, and these quick trips are really a result of people eating out less, and doing a little bit of cherry picking,” she noted.
Another reason for the increase in quick trips was people trying to conserve by buying for the week instead of the month. “Then they were augmenting their purchases more throughout the week because they are cooking more,” she said.
At 7-Eleven, based in Dallas, quick trips are a challenge and a fact of life, according to Rita Bargerhuff, chief marketing officer, who was also on the PMA panel. “Our customers are so mission-oriented, they spend about two-and-a-half to three minutes in our store.” She sees technology and solution selling as a way to increase purchases. “If we can create convenient solutions and put those products in the best proximity, in addition to using digital and mobile (technology), I think we will be very successful.”
If shoppers see a multi-product solution, “they would think it was a great connection, but wouldn’t have physically walked to the store to put that together,” Bargerhuff noted.
“I absolutely agree (path to purchase) is a puddle. The real challenge – and I think it has always been a challenge – is that as marketers, we are never really certain when that starts,” she added.
The path to purchase is not a straight line like the Fidelity television commercial portrays, but the puddle Mathews and Bargerhuff spoke of, according to Al Witteman, managing director, retail strategist at marketing agency Tracy Locke, Dallas, who moderated the panel.
“If you can capture that emotional tension with consumers that happens during occasional usage, and you can understand how to bring that through the retail path to purchase, and make that emotional connection come alive at retail, and you are giving the retailer shopper insights and showing them how to do that within their brand and category growth objectives, they will listen to you. In the final analysis, even though most of our work is done on the rationale side, when you really understand shoppers when they are ready to buy, it is about how that offer in combination with the brand and the retail experience makes them feel about themselves,” he said, concluding the session.
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