Reader Mailbag: Miller Zell's Shopper Research Brief

Ask and ye shall read.

Reader Scott S. from Tucson asked:

Paul, what do you think about Miller Zell’s research, “Gone in 2.3 Seconds: Capturing Shoppers with Effective In-store Triggers?” (Download)

I think I see the obvious: In-store advertising is more effective that out-of-store advertising. Among Miller Zell’s findings:

-Baby Boomers, as an example, still prefer product messaging (93% rated this very or extremely important) to price point messaging (86%).

-Shoppers are making brand decisions 60% of the time after entering the store.

-Across all age, income, gender and channels evaluated, in-store advertising was considered more effective that out-of-store.

No shockers here. But I saw something else. The survey notes that, “In-store digital signage has yet to hit the tipping point in terms of influencing unplanned in-store purchases, but it seems to be gaining some traction as it relates to planned purchases.

What this suggests:

-Digital signage must do a better job of telling a compelling story instead of just hawking products.

-The stories must show a stronger relationship between the manufacturer’s/third party’s brand and the retail brand.

When customers see third party signage of any kind in a retail environment, I believe there is an implied assumption by the customer that the retailer is “endorsing” this brand/product as something you should have. With digital signage, the ability to create a compelling story supporting this endorsement is significant. For that customer, it can mean choosing one product over another, or even one retailer over another.

But I don’t know the title means. I think they’re relating to their findings on end-of-aisle displays. Their survey showed that of the different types of in-store signage shoppers engage with during a store visit, 70% said they actively engage with end-of-aisle (endcap) signage.  I have seen other research suggesting that endcap signage, particularly digital signage, has between two and three seconds to capture the attention of the traffic passing by.

Do you have a question for me? Contact me. I’ll answer it here. (Please provide your city as well.)