shopping myths busted using eye tracking

March 2014 Kirk Hendrickson, Founder & CEO, Eye Faster, LLC Meinhard Hausleitner, President, Spark Marketing

Real Shoppers, Real Insights

Shopping Myths

See the reality how consumers shop through their own eyes!

Copyright © 2014 Eye Faster, LLC

Definition

Myth

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http://eyefaster.com/


Collectively held, but false, current beliefs about how people

shop.

Some of those beliefs are not true any longer …

BECAUSE …

Behavior: How people shop has changed …

•New channels (Internet)

•New consumer technology (mobile)

•New retail environments

Research: How data can be collected has changed …

•New research methodologies

•New research technology

•New research analytics

Shopping Myths

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Location

1. Signage at the entrance works very well to inform and entice shoppers

2. The checkout is great at driving impulse purchases

Time

3. The more time a shopper spends in a category the more she/he buys

Communication

4. Advertising lifestyle images also work best for In-store signage and

communication

Shoppers

5. Mothers shopping with children buy more

6. Waiting shoppers are a great target for advertising

Category

7. Consumers shop each category differently

Myths

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There are established beliefs about most key in-store factors

These are the myth we will explore in more detail



We are using eye-tracking to bust the myths!

Eye Tracking – The Myth Buster Technology

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Go to this link for videos

http://eyefaster.com/eye-tracking-in-action/

Eye Tracking Videos










Eye tracking measures and analyses visual attention, aka fixation (via eye

video), as well as behavior (via a point-of-view video)

Eye Tracking – The Myth Buster Technology

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Notice Evaluate Select Buy

Activity

Quick glance

Subliminal recognition

Closer look

Pick up packages

Read labels and information

Buy product or put it back on the shelf

Driver

Awareness

Orientation in the store

Relevance

Checking products against needs

Consideration

Comparing products

Choice

Rationalize choice

Buy selected product

Visual Attention Behavior



Data eye tracking will deliver Questions eye tracking data answer

What people look at What are shoppers seeing?

What are shoppers not seeing?

In what order elements are looked at

Where do people start their shopping?

What catches their initial attention?

How is attention guided?

Duration of time spent looking at different elements

Are elements engaging or confusing?

Is the messaging being conveyed?

How people navigate the store and the shelf

What communications are used to find the category and product?

What guides attention while searching for an item?

What people put back on shelf and what they put into their basket

How many products are picked up?

How many are purchased and how many are rejected?

What did people look at on packages that were purchased and rejected?

How people interact with other people: shoppers, store associates, sales staff

How does interaction with others influence the purchase decision?

Eye Tracking Data and Shopper Research

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Att

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Beh

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Myth #1

Signage at the entrance works very well to

inform and entice shoppers

Location

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Truth: At the entrance, shoppers do not pay

attention to signage.

Signage is noticed significantly more once

shopper is in shopping mode.



Signs at the entrance/lobby are least likely to be seen

• Very few shoppers are viewing or reading signage when entering or leaving.

• They are preoccupied and are not receptive to messages that they cannot act on

Location is key for Signage Effectiveness

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Location is key for Signage Effectiveness

20% shoppers viewed sign

10% shoppers viewed sign

Signs in the natural path of shopping receive more attention

• Signs are only viewed once shoppers feel ready to shop

• The shopping mission roughly begins once the shopper has their cart or basket in

hand and is moving towards products

Shopping carts

Entrance

Shopping carts

Entrance

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Myth #2

The checkout is great at driving impulse

purchases

Location

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Truth: No, at checkout shoppers are preoccupied

with waiting and unloading the cart!



Checkout Behavior Mass Merchant

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0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

0-10% 11-20% 21-30% 31-40% 41-50% 51-60% 61-70% 71-80% 81-90% 91-100%

% P

urc

has

es

Du

rin

g Ti

me

Inte

rval

Percent of Time Into Shopping Trip

Purchase Timeline

Purchasing drops off dramatically in last 20% of shopping most of which

is checkout time

• During that time, only 1.6% of purchases are made, as the shopper is focused on

leaving not buying

Checkout

Source: POPAI 2014 Mass Merchant Channel Study

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Checkout Behavior Grocery

Over 50% of checkout time consists of waiting but not much impulse

purchasing

• Checkout consists of 6 minutes or 20% of total shopping time (of an average 30min

shopping trip)

• Only 1% of purchasing takes place in that 20% of time although the checkout is prime

impulse purchase zone

15%

20%

25%

22%

18%

Unloading Cart

Waiting for Cashier Scanning

Paying

Waiting for Completion

Waiting in Line at Checkout

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Eye tracking shows little

attention given to checkout

displays

Checkout



Myth #3

The more time a shopper spends in a

category the more she/he buys

Time

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Truth: No, the quicker a shopper finds her/his

FIRST product the more she/he buys in

that category



Shoppers are Task Focused

The faster a shopper finds the first product the more they purchase

• A shopper who finds the first item within 10 seconds purchases 50% more

• The amount of time shoppers spend in a category has little to do with the number of

products purchased

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Source: TNS




Shoppers spend the vast majority of their time at the shelf searching for

the product they know they want

• When they are busy searching for specific products they are not open to influence

• They are effectively blind to anything not relevant to the task at hand

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Source: TNS



How long a shopper spends in a category has no impact on how many

products are purchased

Time in categories and shoppers purchasing

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Item

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Med

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Shopper median time in category and number of items purchased

Items purchased

Time in Category



Myth #4

Advertising lifestyle images also work best

for In-store signage

Communication

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Truth: No, product related images combined with

creative, usage related verbal messages

(call-to-action) work best!



• Strong visual appeal, generates involvement and motivation to buy

• Feels enjoyable, original, dynamic, modern, refreshing, attractive

• Highly appealing visual that ‘talks to consumers’ and ‘tickles the taste buds’

• Strong refreshment and heritage communication

Messaging for In-store - based on traditional research

• Lacks originality, spontaneity, fun and enthusiasm

• Perceived as ‘everydayness’ in situations and moods

• Does not reflect current reality of family dynamics

• Situations are of low relevance and are not motivating occasions

• Polarizes - specificity of the images excludes many people

Product focused messaging works best in the in-store environment

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A lot of money invested into in-store signage is wasted!

• Signs are only noted on average by 3% of shoppers and evaluated by only 2% with

less than 1% acting on the sign.

Eye Tracking Research on Signage

Action A quick glance Look closer and read Act on sign

All 70 signs % shoppers Avg. per sign 3% Avg. per sign 2% Less than 1%

Best performing signs (10 signs) Avg. per sign 12% Avg. per sign 7% About 3%

Worst performing signs (60 signs) Avg. per sign 2% Avg. per sign 1% Less than 1%

Notice Evaluate Act

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Characteristics of best performing signs

• The best performing signs are noted by 12% of shoppers and evaluated by 7%

• Those signs have the following attributes:

– Easy to understand message

– Clear shopper oriented call-to-action

– One or a few focused images or visuals

Eye Tracking Research: Best Performing Signs

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Characteristics of least performing signs

• The least performing signs are noted by only 2% of shoppers and evaluated by 1%.

• Those signs have the following attributes:

– Difficult to understand message

– Confusing verbal message

– Too many and too detailed images or visuals

Eye Tracking Research: Worst Performing Signs

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Images

• Participants responded

favorably to the meat

images.

• Without an image of people,

the meat image got more

attention and was noticed a

lot sooner.

Meat Eye Tracking Study

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Verbal messages

• Call-to-action messages fared better than brand taglines in terms of participant

preference.

• However, there is a need to avoid phrases that could come across as too commanding



Myth #5

Parent shopping with children buy more

Shoppers

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Truth: Children distract the parent from shopping.

A parent shopping alone spends less time in

the aisle, but purchases more.



Mothers shopping with kids

Mothers agree that they spend more time in the store when shopping with

their kids

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Source: 2013 The Marketing Store & KidSay

77% agree …

“I spend more time in the store

when I have my kids with me.”

83% agree …

“I spend longer in the supermarket when I have my kids with me.”



Mothers shopping in the Cereal aisle

Mothers shopping alone spend 10% less time shopping and purchased

14% more units than mothers shopping with kids

•Mothers tend to buy different brands when shopping alone or with kids.

•When shopping alone, mothers prefer General Mills, and Quaker, while mothers shopping

with kids prefer Schnucks, Kellogg’s and Post

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Mothers shopping in the Juice aisle

Cereal Juice

Mothers shopping alone spend 12% less time shopping and purchased 29% more units than mothers shopping with kids

• Mothers tend to buy different brands when shopping alone or with kids.

• Minute Maid most popular brand with mothers shopping alone while Simply is preferred

by mothers shopping with kids.

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Myth #6

Waiting consumers are a great target for

advertising

Shoppers

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Truth: Waiting consumers are most focused on

how to reduce the wait time for their task,

largely ignoring advertising.



• 86% Looking around

• 6% Returning nozzle

Most time at pumping gas is wasted

• 50% Close gas cap

• 20% Take receipt

• 20% Enter payment

• 12% Open gas cap

• 11% Talking

Total time at pump = 6 min

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During pumping gas most time is ‘wasted’ by just looking around

• Customers at gas stations spend about 2 minutes at the pump

Pre Pumping

50sec

Pumping

50sec

Post Pumping

15sec



Signage Fixation - 60% never notice any sign at the pump

Customers are not very engaged with signage

• Only 40% of customers look at signage during their gas purchase

• Only 1% of time is spent looking at brand signage

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Signage Fixation – Most time is spent with tasks

Customers are task oriented and therefore not very engaged with signage

• Most time is spent with the task at hand of pumping gas

• Signage gets little attention except for displays close to the pump

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Eye Tracking Heat Map Eye Tracking Sequence Eye Tracking Fixation

36%

12%

36%

28%

30% 24%

5%



Myth #7

Consumers shop each category differently

Category

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Truth: Yes and No. The overall process of

shopping is the same but the time spent

and influencing criteria is different by

category



Notice Evaluate Select Buy

Driver Awareness Orientation in -store

Relevance Checking products

Consideration Comparing products

Choice Rationalize choice

Activity A quick glance, colors and shapes

Look closer at sections, packs and brands

Pick up packages, read labels and information

Put the product into basket or back

Insight

Start at left and right ends of categories and work their way to center

Products that are evaluated are in the wider consideration set

Products picked up are in the narrow consideration set

90% of products that are picked up are purchased

Influence Store guidance, intuitive shelf layout, product placements

Packages with key identifiers (colors, shape or design of package)

Information on packages, intuitive information flow

Products that stand out

Category Purchase Funnel

The stages and activities on the path-to-purchase are the same but time

spent on specific activities in each stage differs

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Hold

Read

Fixate

The activities are the same but time spent on specific activities and

distribution across categories differ • Fixating, Reading and Holding are the main shopping activities across all categories

• On average 45% of time is spent fixating, 30% reading and 25% holding

• But the different categories are shopped very differently when it comes to action taken

Shopper Behavior: Time and Activity in Categories

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Read

= Evaluate

Hold

= Select

Fixate =

Notice



Category sections get different attention from shoppers

• The CSD aisle is shopped very evenly with all products getting even attention.

• The Salty snack aisle is shopped very differently. Different products and sections get

different attention.

Shopper Attention: Category shopping

Carbonated Beverages

Dips, Salty Snacks

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Shoppers tend to evaluate products in sections where better known brands

are and tend to buy products from those sections.

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% Evaluating

% Purchasing

% Noting



Purchase criteria and consideration

Category purchase criteria differ substantially

• Shoppers buy cereal by brand but salad dressing and chilled juice by flavor

• Cereal receives much more attention because shoppers spend more time reading

nutritional information on cereal than on the other products

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Survey data Eye tracking data



Purchase Intent and Actual Purchase – Example cream cheese

Intention can differ dramatically from actual shopping behavior based on

in-store situation and stimuli

• Shoppers shopping predominantly for flavor, brand selection is influenced by sales

• Kraft was on sale for 40% off

• Resulting in nearly 3 times more shoppers buying twice more units

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3x shoppers 4x units



New technology advances in research allow us to

get closer to the shopper’s true behaviors and true

focus of their attention.

Eye tracking techniques can be used to reevaluate

and refine established beliefs and develop new

insights to gain a competitive advantage.

Final Thoughts

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Kirk Hendrickson,

Founder & CEO, Eye Faster, LLC

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 925-452-4976

Web: www.eyefaster.com

Meinhard Hausleitner

President, Spark Marketing


Tel: 480-699-2657

Web: www.spark-mktg.com



For more information please contact us:

Kirk Hendrickson, Founder & CEO, Eye Faster, LLC


Tel: 925-452-4976

Web: www.eyefaster.com

Meinhard Hausleitner, President, Spark Marketing


Tel: 480-699-2657

Web: www.spark-mktg.com

Contacts
