Shopping: A risky business?

More than 74% of consumer purchases in supermarkets are made on impulse. At any one moment during the shopping experience, consumers may be surrounded numerous brands all screaming for attention. Consumers respond to this situation by developing techniques that allow them to navigate all the risks involved in shopping.

In the search for information consumers use their conscious minds to gather information from outside sources and influences and their sub-conscious minds to process information already stored in the memory.

Whereas, the information gained from outside sources, is manipulated by marketing, publicity and design, the information already stored in the consumers sub conscious mind is made up from three different influences:

Social influences, like reference groups, opinion leaders or family and friends.
Individual influences like Gender, age, personality etc…
Psychological influences like perception, motivation, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes.

So by the time consumers enter the supermarket their heads are spinning with needs, attitudes, emotions and beliefs that have either been discerned for themselves or have been cleverly introduced by those good people in marketing and advertising. On top of all this, consumers are also further influenced by two other major motivations;

Rational motivations:
Convenience, comfort, dependability, time savings, economy or health advantages etc..

Emotional Motivations
Prestige, social approval, recognition, power, curiosity, romance etc…

So how is it that some brands consistently win the battle for attention whilst others remain un-noticed? What is it that some brand owners know that others don’t? How can they possibly find a way through all these influences and inherent confusion in the consumer’s mind, and how is it that they can influence shoppers to choose between one brand and another?

This is where understanding the risk factor comes in.
When a product/brand is well known, the purchase decision making is less critical, it involves less risk and therefore it is easier. However, when a product or brand is new or presents a new concept, the risk involved in the purchase decision becomes higher. The end result is that consumers feel an immediate need for more information delivery, and if this is unfulfilled, they may even switch to another brand that offers more familiarity.

During the shopping experience consumers tend to respond to this risk, in general by creating ‘brand portfolios’, choosing brands they know, or have experienced in their lives (family, friends and other experiences). Here consumers create a familiar territory for themselves and eliminate the risk factor, making decision making, and therefore the shopping experience, easier.

As consumers progress through the supermarket they look for familiar visual clues that help them to find what they are looking for, these are expressed in category codes, types of presentation, packaging similarities and product colours etc.

This is why, when considering the reason for purchase in a supermarket environment, ‘effective packaging’ is a critical factor in the success of any brand. It is also why designers need to be aware of all the rational and emotional motivations that may be influencing purchase decision making. Packaging needs to take into account the level of risk that is being proposed to consumers and address information delivery accordingly.

Designers and marketers both need to question, ‘how much risk consumers have to face?’ and determine the criteria for minimising the risk factors that will influence purchase. To do this, designers need to understand the different levels of risk present in any purchase, which govern the difficulty of decision making, for example:

Routine decision-making occurs when a product or brand has a low risk factor for consumers, because it may be familiar or there is not a high financial risk involved. Here, there is less of an emotional involvement and therefore less need for in depth decision making.

Medium decision-making occurs where a product or brand is unfamiliar or is something that is not purchased on a regular basis. These purchases demand some limited investigation and therefore more emotional involvement, resulting in an augmented risk.

In depth decision-making is reserved for major purchases that pose a very high financial or emotional risk. Typically these will be rare purchases and/or will influence life-style, new brands too may fall into this category. Here, the need for information is at a premium.

Each of these states require a different level of information delivery and visual stimuli in order to help consumers understand the product, its attributes and benefits.

So, shopping remains a risky business for both the consumer and the brand, with so many brands trying to sell their products and with so many promises and offers to understand, it’s no wonder we find consumers cocooning themselves from attack. Clearly however, it’s the brands that understand the purchase decision-making process that are more likely to win the battle.

What can brand owners learn from this?

1 Existing brands have intrinsic values that are recognised by consumers - a brand may belong as much to the consumer as to the company who owns it. These values are encapsulated in all the familiar visual clues present in your current package and product. To help minimise the risk factor for consumers there is a need to understand these visual stimuli and to protect them from erosion.

2 Brands have a privileged position in their consumer’s portfolio, this position needs to be respected so that consumers are always reassured. Changes, when necessary, should be introduced in a way that the risk factor is not augmented. Information concerning changes needs to be clear and understandable.

3 Brands need to be aware of the shopping experience, of all the visual clutter that surrounds the consumer. They need to discern how to help the consumer find and understand the product, the packaging and the product offer in a few seconds.

4 Communication needs to be simplified to the ‘core proposition’ (why should I buy this – what’s in it for me?). This should be presented in a reassuring, clear and un-cluttered way.

5 Brands should do all they can to eliminate any perception of risk in the purchase process.


Rowland Heming ©

Title image courtesy of: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net