Kantar IMRB Retail – At the cutting edge of retail research

In the fiercely competitive business of retail, both retailers and marketers are forever striving for an advantage to get ahead of the pack. Retailers want to leverage every last square inch of retail space to improve the customer experience, which in turn drives sales, while marketers jostle with competition for the ideal retail presence, one that will not only draw the customer’s attention, but also put the product ‘front and centre’ in the consumer’s mind space.

Both these goals require a deep understanding of consumer behaviour in and around physical retail environments. It is important, therefore, to understand the dynamics between the various elements of the retail environment that drive shopper behaviour. Kantar IMRB Retail offers a unique suite of products and services that aids client decision-making across different points of the consumer retail experience.

We believe that every point of sale offers countless research opportunities, because this is where active shoppers are at that critical juncture of deciding on ‘what’ they should buy while the store environment is constantly feeding them stimulus on ‘why’ they should buy.

Currently being used by clients across a variety of industries and sectors, we believe that our offerings give you a much better insight into what makes for the ideal shopper experience, as opposed to traditional research methodologies, which depend heavily on in-home research or ‘forced exposure tests’ in simulated environments supplemented with some in-store research.

Our core services:

• RetailScaping - a retail network expansion tool
• Two Ahead Shopper Science - studying the science and art of shopping
• Scores - an evaluation of store performances
• CEx - an index for measuring customer experience across every P2P touch point
• Retail Compliance Tracker - real time auditing system of multiple delivery aspects at the PoS
• The Digital Shopper - understanding the role and dynamics of online shopping today

Actionable insights at every step of P2P

With traditional stores, malls, markets, and e-commerce through mobile and internet platforms, modern consumers do their shopping across a variety of channels. In order to hold shopper attention and build long term relationships, marketers and retailers need to provide a dynamic and engaging shopper experience regardless of the touch-point at which the shopper chooses to engage

To that end, we offer actionable insights at every step along the P2P (Path to Purchase) based on an in-depth analysis of the shopping journey. These include

• Shopper Fundamentals - An understanding of the dynamics of shopping behaviour and shopper decision-making in both traditional and modern trade environments
• Category Management Insights - Inputs for category stocking, display, planograming, identifying triggers to increase shopper engagement
• POSM Evaluation - Evaluating impact of activations on conversions and brand image (post-testing); Identifying the best locations and content (pre-testing) for activations
• Store / Window Design - Inputs for creating an effective window display as well as in-store space planning, layout, and merchandising
• “Behind the Counter” - An assessment of shop-floor/staff performance to enhance quality of interaction with shoppers

We use a multi-pronged approach using observational and interrogative, quantitative and qualitative methods with strong technological backing for efficient data collection and in depth insights. Our methods include:

ShopScan – Video Analytics software - High quality content analysis and coding of video feeds through our specialized software

RFID Tracking & Hand-held Scanners - Non-intrusive shopper tracking through the store on various parameters such as route, time spent, hot/cold spots, and in-store shopper interactions

Win@shelf - Shopper Decision Tree - Decoding how shoppers ‘shop’ the category. Which attributes are important? Which are tradeable? Provides invaluable inputs on shopper awareness, category management, shelving, merchandising and in-store activations