Understanding shoppers can help us build a strong brand and/or retail environment. In particular, understanding what they notice and conversely, don't notice is key...
Let's start with a task... Count all the passes made by the people wearing white shirts only. Ignore the people in black. Count all the passes - both the bounce passes and the aerial passes – everything counts.
(Please don't read on until you have completed the task!)
How many passes did you count? Did you notice anything else?
The answers for the observation experiment are as follows:
15 passes from white to white
19 passes from black to black
A gorilla
If you didn’t see the gorilla it is due to something called Inattentional Blindness - effectively your mind ignores events it's not concentrating on.
We as humans have a limited capacity for attention – limiting the amount of information we can process at any particular time & our attention is directed to objects and events rather than spatial locations.
This means that we are mistaken as to how ‘important’ events will automatically draw our attention away from current tasks or goals. This learning should play a pivotal role in our thinking towards marketing & communicating with our customers, especially within a retail environment. Most customers are on a shopping mission and therefore will screen out a lot of information and messaging that isn't relevant. So... just because you put a sign up (even in luminous yellow) it doesn't mean anyone will notice it, let alone read it! Multiple sources of communication and possibly disrupting the shopping mission might be required!
Affecting shopper behaviour in store itself is an area of real potential value for both retailers and brand suppliers. Here are come interesting stats (from a variety of credible sources):
As much as 99% of the visual stimuli that assail the shopper in a supermarket are screened out by the brain
About 80% of shopping decisions are made sub-consciously
Most people assume that the best area for product placement is at eye level…wrong. The natural gaze is in the range 15 to 30 degress downward. So goods placed above this level get less attention.
Conventional wisdom suggests that products placed at the beginning or end of an aisle are prime locations…wrong. Shoppers don't notice much until after about three metres and are already leaving the aisle well before the end of the shelves & displays. The better location is in the middle section of the aisle.
Often point of sale and ceiling hung advertising and promotion is largely ignored by shoppers and has limited influence on the purchase decision. It can however cost a fortune to design & produce.
Shoppers are in a hurry! 70% of purchase decisions are made at the shelf and the average package viewing is <3 seconds. So, if they can’t find it, they won’t/can’t buy it!
Humans acquire 93% of their information through purely visual cues, in the following order: Colour, Shape / Structure, Numbers, Words. They don’t read – they SEE!
So what? Whether you are a retailer or a brand supplier... you need to make sure that whatever you create is:
EYE CATCHING (= stand out)
UNDERSTOOD (= simple comprehension)
DISTINCTIVE (in store & vs. competition)
CONSISTENT (design & personality)
RELEVANT (clear role for brand and what you sell)
If you liked the Gorilla video... you will probably enjoy this one!
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