• Everything relating to shoppers, their grouping, attitudes, and behaviour
• Everything relating to the association between products and brands, shopping places and shoppers

...and comprehensive service in these areas

• identification of key questions and insight into the points at issue
• in-depth analysis of key factors
• strategy consulting
• benchmarks for satisfactory solutions, indicators of further development

The shoppers and their decision-making processes

• “a map of the shopping process“ – its logic and structure, the shopping cart and shopping opportunities
• who is the shopper – profiling and segmentation based on actual shopping behaviour
• the decision-making process, motivators and barriers, shopping planning (shopping for a particular category / store choice)
• customer in-store movement and the impact of visibility on decision-making processes and shopping
• the shopping itself: brands, the shopping cart, prices, POS communication, and sales promotions

Category structure and the role brands play in the shopping process

• categories as viewed by the customers: shoppers vs. consumers
• brand strength and position within given category
• brand performance at the point of sale, their “key performance indicators” (KPI’s) in terms of both sales and communication
• the effect of POS communication and sales promotions on brand performance

Display efficiency at the point of sale and its optimization

• the in-store display for most effective selling
• locations with the highest sales and communication potential within the entire store and individual shelves
• the role of secondary displays in a given category
• optimization of shelving arrangements / category display
• optimization of brand combinations and their placement

The store as a medium: communication with shoppers at the point of sale

• the best way to appeal to customers at the point of sale – the optimal communication mix
• in-store locations for approaching customers – the selection of contact points
• communication via POS material and brands / categories – the role and strength of these channels
• communicational / visual optimization of shelves, pallets, secondary locations, etc.
• the typology of POS materials: their graphic concept and the function they play in communication

Distribution analysis and price research

• distribution analyses of selected products and brands within the target store sample
• analyses of retail promotional activities
• price comparisons

HOW DO WE DO IT?

• via a combination of research methods that provide comprehensive answers to the questions presented and are the most advantageous within the context of a given market segment as well as the researched circumstances
• via qualitative and ethnographic methods (accompanied shopping, group discussions, in-depth interviews, comprehensive monitoring, self-documentation, consumer reports, photo- and video-ethnography, etc.): in all situations where it is essential to go more in-depth; where it is more important to understand rather than simply describe; where it is important to determine what is most crucial
• via quantitative research (conducted in households, over the phone, in stores, in-hall, on-line, etc.); emphasizing the highest quality work, rigorous control of the entire process, and informative value of the results
• quantitative monitoring (eye camera, video-monitoring, “the glance count”, in-store movement monitoring by cameras, infrared cameras, and RFID technology) – in cases where we do not want to influence customer behaviour; where we want to directly observe the actual shopping process; where customers are unwilling or unable to give unbiased answers
• expert interviews – where the opinion of specialists, managers, and professionals is the key factor (market predictions, strategic priorities, relations between stores and suppliers, etc.)
• mystery shopping – a survey “through customer’s eyes” as an effective element of the inspection system of in-store service quality conducted via simulated shopping (one-time or long-term tracking projects)
• via collection and analysis of hard data and data from secondary sources (public statistics, account balances, media monitoring, etc.) – where it is essential to identify the market situation, company structures, media environment and picture
• via top analytical methods – from statistical analyses and geographical information systems to expert analytical technologies

WHO USES OUR SERVICES?

Primarily representatives of manufacturers and suppliers of goods (both high-turnover and long-term consumption merchandise) – group management, marketing, sales and key customer managers. Also chain stores and media and advertising agencies.