Posted by Herb Sorensen on May 16, 2002 at 12:57:27:
In Reply to: Re: market research services for a supermarket chain posted by Francisco Ourique on May 15, 2002 at 07:49:28:
Although as "the in-store research company" we have spent 30 years observing shoppers in supermarkets and asking them questions, most of our business has been with the CPG manufacturers whose products are being sold in the supermarket. In fact, it is not uncommon for retailers to look to the manufacturers to pay for studies that the retailers want to do. The studies Francisco mentions are exceptions to this, and are commonly used by the chains.
One type of study not mentioned that we have done directly for retailers involves shopper behavior studies that may include both observation and interviewing. For example, observing that some shoppers may leave the store without making a purchase could lead to questions as to what they were looking for and did not find, or probing other insights into this or other shopper behavior.
Our company has recently introduced a service called PathTracker(tm) that electronically monitors the paths and behavior of shoppers while they are in the store. You can get further information on this by checking our company website.