#Workshop
WORKSHOP: SHOPPER
BEHAVIOR PRINCIPLES
I
n spring our colleagues from Global headquarters
visited the central office in Moscow where they facil-
itated a workshop on Shopper Behavior Principles.
The team from the Shopper and Trade Research team
from the Strategy & Insight department conducted a
workshop with Sales and Marketing Operations (SMO),
Insight & Intelligence department (I&I) and Sales (Mar-
ket) of the Central Moscow Office, where they presented
the results of the Eyes Wide Shut project – merchandis-
ing and brand activation principles for Imperial Tobacco
and our main competitors.
The Eyes Wide Shut program was launched in
FY16 and five markets (Poland, Russia, Ger-
many, Italy and UK) are involved with various
regulatory restrictions (EUTPD II, display ban,
plain packaging). For each research project
the team collaborates with the creative agency
Proximity, the Activation Centre of Excellence and the
local cluster market teams to develop new POS mate-
rials and test them in retail outlets using eye-tracking
and exit interview methodology.
Jamie Rayner, Senior Manager for Shopper
and Trade Research: “We have to take into
account the unavoidable regulation which is
in existence to a greater or lesser extent in
absolutely all of our markets, and we have
structured the program so as to study and
later compare research results in markets
with different product placement and health
warning requirements.”
Ben Manzi, Senior Manager for Activa-
tion Centre of Excellence: “We categorized
RUSSIAN SHOPPERS SPEND VERY LITTLE TIME ON PURCHASING
CIGARETTES AND ARE AMONG THE MOST LOYAL SHOPPERS
IN THE WORLD
markets by product placement and health warning
requirements. After that we developed five main reg-
ulatory archetypes in order to systematize research re-
sults and develop ways to improve our merchandising,
activation and ultimately the sales of the Imperial
Tobacco cigarettes in all countries where our
company operates.”
Russia was selected to participate in the proj-
ect as an example of a market where a display
ban is in effect. However, the area for health
warnings is less than 50% and on one side of the
pack. The research was carried out in December 2016
and looked at the position of our products on shelves
versus our competitors' positions, whether the type of
equipment used was open or closed (some tobacco-
nists still leave retail outlets equipment open), as well
as the use of a disruptive display (illuminated or non-il-
luminated).
Helen Garforth, Shopper Research Manager:
“Our task is to identify what preferences our
shoppers have, how their behavior changes
depending on the particular environment (reg-
ulatory conditions) in which we work, as well
as how we can use that knowledge in order to enhance
brand activation and increase our market share.”
The research was conducted in Nizhny Novgorod in
eight outlets with different product placement (top shelf
and eyelevel) and with various types of disruptive dis-
plays (illuminated and non-illuminated) in different
types of equipment (Norma and Premium).
More than 1,000 shoppers took part in the
research with exit interviews, as well as 160
shoppers for the eye-tracking part.
A key objective of the research was to
study a range of factors influencing shopper
choice: e.g. efficiency of POS equipment and its usage,
as well as the time spent by a shopper on visiting a POS
and making their choice. The survey method involved
work with both salespersons and shoppers – therefore,
it can be divided into two blocks.
Shopper behavior research
“We used eye-tracking technology: special glasses were
put on a shopper – they recorded where a shopper's gaze
rests and how long they spend looking at a certain item or
a particular section of the POS equipment. Eye movements
are subconscious; therefore, we can confidently say that
The Империалист | | 6