Use Cases for Market Research in Retail
Market Research in the Retail Industry: 3 Use Cases
Retail, especially e-commerce, is booming right now. Revenue from e-commerce in the United States amounted to 431.6 billion U.S dollars in 2020. That number is expected to grow to 563.4 billion dollars by 2025.
Clearly, opportunities abound. On top of that, it’s easier than ever to reach shoppers thanks to a multitude of communication channels. And while the field is flourishing, it’s also very crowded. If you jump into the competition without knowing your market, or go on scant customer data, it could mean missing out on a huge chunk of sales. And did you know that 90% of e-commerce start-up businesses fail within the first 120 days?
It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are three ways retailers use market research to come out on top in a competitive marketplace.
Sales Funnel Optimization & Personalized Marketing in E-commerce
One of the top ways to use customer data collected in market research is to deliver a more personalized marketing experience.
Personalized marketing in e-commerce is a huge driver of sales – just ask Amazon. It’s no secret the recommendation engine is the key to their multi-billion dollar success. But you don’t have to limit personalization to the product page.
Learning about your customers through focus groups, personalized interviews, and behavioral data from websites can reveal opportunities to personalize every step of the journey:
- Supply targeted ads across their entire web experience
- Notify them of deals and new products based on their profile
- Time your offers based on past purchase habits
- Offer upgrades and helpful information after a purchase
Better Product Placement with Shop-Alongs
Brick-and-mortar stores also have a massive opportunity to learn from their customers. Shop-along market research documents a customer’s physical journey through your store.
During a shop-along, preselected customers enter a store and shop as they normally would. A moderator accompanies them, asking questions about aspects of the shopping experience. Gathering notes and impressions from the customer in real-time, rather than days or weeks later, allows researchers to gather more honest and realistic feedback.
Shopalongs can help retailers and marketers answer questions about the specific products, product placement, and the shopping experience overall, such as:
- Was my product easy to find?
- Which products did the shopper gravitate towards first?
- How effective was store and product signage?
- If the customer asked for help, did they get what they needed?
- How do customers interact with my product and packaging?
- What problems did they encounter?
- Were there any confusion points?
Customer Surveys Reveal the Truth of the Shopping Experience
Customer surveys offer a wealth of data surrounding shoppers’ behaviors, wants, and opinions. Even negative experiences are useful, acting as indicators of what can be improved, both in-store and online.
As with every market research project, a great customer survey starts with your goals. What kinds of insights do you want to gather, and for what purpose? What do you hope to learn? You may conduct your survey via email, an online survey tool, or by placing a device at the point-of-sale, for example. Some common customer experience survey metrics include:
- Net promoter score, which determines how likely people will recommend the store to a friend.
- The customer effort score, indicating how easy it is to find the products they were looking for.
- The customer satisfaction score, which indicates customers’ overall satisfaction.
The most important step is using what you learn to improve the overall shopping experience. Make changes based on feedback and track the results.
Want to rise to the top in the flourishing modern retail industry? Contact Voccii today to discuss your research goals.
