Shopper Influence Research

Don't count on brand loyalty

In a world where shoppers have limitless options and information at their fingertips, the role that brand plays in their decisions is in decline. Your customers are looking for a product or service that satisfies their needs, and they’ve been trained to look deeper than brand-level to make a choice.

76% of shoppers want to be as informed as possible when making a purchase decision. Where are they going for that information? How influential is it to them? What opportunities does your brand have to intersect with shoppers at the right time?

It’s time for research to adapt so that brands like yours can truly understand their customers. Our Shopper Influence research uses proprietary methodology to reveal practical, tangible solutions for retailers, brands, and marketers as they seek to grow and prosper.

Shopper Making Purchase
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We can help you ask better questions

Our work has proven that brand loyalty is a misleading metric. Research focused on it results in unactionable data that won’t give you what you need in order to make the best decisions. It’s based on what we call Brand Narcissism: focusing too much on what the brand thinks about itself, rather than on what the shopper needs.

Shoppers don’t think in terms of loyalty. They focus on their needs and are looking past the brand to continuously try new options to find the best fit. We call this new reality Shopper Promiscuity: in droves, they’re putting themselves above brand loyalty. It demands a new methodology that gets brands like yours what you need: actionable insights based on the shopper’s views.

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This drives real business results

Shopper Influence studies bring customer centricity into your research for better results. They've powered insights for companies like Google, Schwab, Bose, and Fortune Brands. They work across categories, geography, and customer segments. Offering solutions that fit in a shopper’s unique situation wins the day, and understanding that requires this kind of research.

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Crowded Mall Filled with Shoppers
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We’ve been building this for over a decade

This methodology was born in 2010 when our leadership began formulating a new approach to shopper research. That led to our work for Google on their groundbreaking Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) research in 2011 which redefined how brands approach shoppers in the digital era. At that point in internet history, companies like Google and Facebook had to convince brands to advertise on their platforms. Ecommerce sales in the US amounted to fewer than 5% of total retail. Our Google ZMOT study found that people were doing more of their shopping and research online than executives expected, and made the powerful case that digital advertising would be an indispensable part of modern commerce.

A decade later, the world has changed. So much of the shopping process happens online, even if the actual purchase isn’t part of the share of retail sales that happen there. In 2021, our research found that 60% of shoppers always research a product online before purchasing. About the same number look it up on their smartphone while they’re in the store. How do you know whether your shopper got the final push to buy your product from the shelf display or an online review that they read on the spot? Shopper Influence has the answer.