We write for Quirk’s about Brand Narcissism and Shopper Promiscuity
We know that the way people shop has changed for good, but market research practices haven’t kept up. By focusing on narcissistic brand metrics, instead of on the consumer, we’re failing to understand today’s consumer. We write about this, including an excerpt from Chapter 12 of our new book, in our latest article for Quirk’s, “Why shoppers – not brands – should be at the center of your research.”
This disconnect between today’s shopping environment and the research brands are doing to understand shoppers was the impetus for writing “Influencing Shopper Decisions: Unleash the Power of Your Brand to Win Customers.” Covering decades of shopper research and the evolving expectations of shoppers, the book outlines a better way to ask people about their purchase behaviors and understand the new shopper journey. We write in the article, “We’ve emerged into the age of Shopper Promiscuity, where shoppers are uninterested in brand loyalty, instead focusing on their own needs and looking past the brand to continuously try new options to find the best fit.” By exploring where people are seeking information to inform purchase decisions, and how much each information source actually influences their final behavior, we can better understand how to best reach specific audiences.
In the article, we’ve included an excerpt from Chapter 12 of the book, which gives an overview of exactly how shoppers are consuming information before making a purchase, and what they’re expecting of the brands with which they do business. It has changed dramatically over the past decade. “This transformation has resulted in a very different kind of shopper – an entirely new generation of shoppers, actually – while brand marketing and market research is based on an outmoded purchase model.”
The chapter then dives into how market research has traditionally been structured based on “Brand Narcissism”, and how our approach needs to change with the new shopper in mind. “Shopper Promiscuity” is the new norm, as individuals no longer consider brand as a top purchase driver, and instead are coming into the shopping process with “their own needs, priorities, and how they want to solve the problem that this product is solving.” We give specific advice to marketers, market researchers and company executives on steps that they can each take in order to better connect with and understand their audiences, and support the right kind of research moving forward.
We close the article with an undeniable truth: “influencing shopper decisions in this new age requires new thinking and approaches that always put the shopper at the center of everything.”
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