Supermarkets sell more when they allow consumers to buy quickly. Conversely, a slow shopping experience limits sales.
Consumer Behaviour
Ad people are much more likely to use social media than the general public. It’s no wonder that so many marketers overestimate its effectiveness within the media mix.
Streetlights reduce nighttime crime by 36% and reduce “serious offending” by 4%. This is roughly the same reduction in crime you would expect from a 10% increase in policing.
Most supermarkets stock 40,000 items, but the typical household only buys 300 in a given year. So much for “seeking out the best option.”
Some supermarket sections, like the bakery, are visited by almost every shopper, while others, like greeting cards have few visitors. According to shopper scientist Herb Sorensen, 85% of in store behaviour can be accounted for by shoppers’ location, rather than the products in front of them.
In surveys, shoppers tend to say they visit most of the supermarket. But observational studies show that most cover a small fraction of it, and only 2% visit more than ¾ of the total area.
Big supermarkets sell over 40,000 products, but they’re not made the same: the top 300 account for 25% of sales. (If you’re interested, bananas and milk are usually bought most often)
Services like Netflix have started to include a cheaper, ad supported option to their offer – but interestingly, compared to the ad-free version, it’s not attracting people with less money.
We follow the herd: in supermarkets, top seller labels result in an average sales lift of 41%.
Most people who own trucks don’t use them. 75% of truck owners tow something once or less, and a third do not haul anything in their truck beds at all. In other words, truck ownership is mostly a form of costly signalling.
TV subtitles were designed as a hearing aid, but they’re now used as an attention aid. That’s why under 30s are more likely to use them than any other age group, even for shows in their native language.
92% of plant-based meals are eaten by non-vegans who are choosing to reduce their meat and dairy intake.
50% of vinyl buyers don’t actually own a record player. Some music fans want to see and touch their favourite albums without wanting to listen to them.
Weather is not just for small talk – it has a greater impact on a store’s sales than either inflation or unemployment. Interestingly, of the four weather conditions assessed, high are by far the most likely to influence shopping.
As Andrew Tenzer shows, marketers get this question very wrong; significantly overestimating the level of consumers’ extrinsic aspirations.