What Motivates Customers: IBM Survey

By Allan Pulga

“Why are you shopping?”

Last year, IBM, in collaboration with The Store/Kantar, asked over 5,000 grocery, clothing and consumer electronics shoppers in the U.K., Germany and France that very question.

The survey generated a variety of answers, which led IBM to conclude the obvious: consumer shopping approaches are multidimensional.

“They want products and services that meet their individual needs and preferences,” said the report, Driving successful shopping occasions through deeper insights. “They are willing to pay premium prices for products that matter to them personally, but demand rock-bottom prices for basic goods. And, thanks to the Internet, they are increasingly well-informed.

“As a result, today’s savvy customers have far greater expectations of the shopping experiences than previous generations.”

More importantly to retailers, the report sought to find out not only what motivates customers, but also what customers want to accomplish, how they prefer to shop, what services they require and what makes them visit a particular store.

It concluded the following:

• Customers have different value drivers for different shopping occasions or missions.

For example, shoppers looking to replace an electronic item are much more focused than those who are just browsing, but they’re not necessarily more successful – only 48 per cent of French shoppers made the purchase they previously had in mind. Meanwhile, 52 per cent of French shoppers just browsing consumer electronics made a purchase.

“Browsers are far more attractive customers than many retailers might assume, and those retailers that are most effective at merchandising and inspiring customers at the point of sale can succeed in converting browsers into buyers,” said the report.

• Shopping missions evolve.

IBM found that many customers shopping for items in one product group (i.e. groceries, clothing or consumer electronics) end up buying all sorts of other things – the purpose for which they’re shopping changes during the course of the trip.

“What starts as a mission to purchase a particular product can morph into browing,” said the report. Therefore, retailers should design their stores to capture such impulse buying – to persuade shoppers to put unexpected things in their baskets.

1. Advice to retailers: Provide more tailored shopping experiences that reflect not only who their customers are, but also how they want to shop on different occasions.

• Mood plays a major role in the shopping experience and can significantly influence how much customers spend.

Due to a close relationship between the emotional responses and spending patterns of consumers, it is vital for retailers to engage with customers. “When customers feel engaged and excited, they stay longer and spend more money,” said the report. “When they feel bored or regard the trip as hard work, they spend less.”

• Customers want convenience.

It’s human nature: people take the path of least resistance. Respondents placed a high importance on ease of shopping. They’re also willing to embrace new in-store services and technologies relevant to their particular shopping needs.

Forty-four per cent (German), 40 per cent (French) and 37 per cent (British) of respondents indicated that the Internet is becoming a more important part of their shopping process. Between 70 and 90 per cent of all consumer electronics shoppers researched their purchases online before buying.

3. Advice to retailers: Use technology to bridge the gap between bricks and clicks, give shoppers all they need to reach a purchasing decision and take the hassle out of hunting for the right product.

In short, IBM urges retailers to align their marketing, merchandising, staffing and service strategies with the requirements of their target customers. Such efforts to address customer motivation will keep customers (whether goal-oriented or browsing) satisfied, excited, and hassle-free.

So even if they don’t know why they’re shopping, at least you know how they’re going about it.