Canadian Retailer - Spring 2014 - 14

CONSUMER RESEARCH

WHAT'S THE CONSUMER DOING?
Upcoming consumer report identifies the key stages of the
consumer's path to purchase and explores their behaviours
as they prepare to spend.
BY SEAN C. TARRY
TO BETTER understand the path
to purchase of today's consumer,
and all of their behaviours along
the way, Retail Council of Canada
(RCC) recently partnered with
NPD Group to conduct thorough
research on the Canadian shopper.
With an emphasis on the ways
digital touchpoints are inﬂuencing
consumer behavior and impacting
their experience when in-store, an
online survey was ﬁelded from January 23, 2014 through February 7, 2014
to a Canadian representative sample
of panelists ages 18-64. A total of
3,337 panelists completed the survey and were balanced to accurately
represent today's current Canadian
adult demographics and their attitudes and behaviours related to
purchases within the winter apparel,
personal accessory, beauty, PC/electronics and beverage categories.
RCC's overarching goal with respect to the research is to help retailers identify opportunities within the
consumer's path to purchase in order
to increase purchase conversion. The
research will also help retailers of
all sizes understand the ways they
can better engage their consumer
through the improvement of their
digital marketing strategies and
tactics and by realizing and acting
on synergies between their digital
and in-store efforts.
The full RCC-NPD Consumer
Path to Purchase report, sponsored
by MasterCard, will be unveiled and
presented at RCC's STORE Conference 2014. MasterCard's Vice
President & Head of Acquirer Merchant Relationship Management,
Kevin Gonyea, agrees that the ﬁndings of the research will help retail-

14 |

ers sharpen their focus on what matters most-their customers. "The path to
purchase is much more than simply the point of transaction and MasterCard
is interested in driving innovation to make the end-to-end purchase safe,
simple and convenient for the customer. The research results highlight the
opportunities available to retailers and brands to engage with customers."
What are you doing to influence your customer?

The research found that respondents had an average of approximately
two (2) brands in mind during their path to purchase and roughly the same
number of retailers. The number of days that passed between the intention
to purchase and the purchase itself, however, raises a number of questions
for retailers who want to engage their customer and attract their purchase.
INCIDENCE OF PLANNED PURCHASING

Winter
Apparel

Personal
Accessory

Beauty

PC/
Electronics

Beverage
DA

Base: Planned Purchasers

(698)

(555)

(699)

(793)

(592)

No. of Days Passed

18

20

7

22

22

No. of Brands in Mind

1.4

1.6

1.6

1.7

1.7

Bought the Brand from
Consideration set

52%

60%

85%

71%

81%

No. of Retailers in mind

2.2

1.9

1.4

2.0

2.1

Bought among retailers
first considered

73%

72%

88%

81%

81%

How are you leveraging your digital components for a better
in-store experience?

In-store touchpoints were among the top two (2) information sources
utilized by customers within each product segment.
USAGE OF TOUCHPOINTS

Winter
Apparel

Personal
Accessory

Beauty

PC/
Electronics

Beverage
DA

Base: Planned Purchasers

(698)

(555)

(699)

(793)

(592)

In-Store Displays, Product
Info, Store Associates

42%

40%

25%

30%

35%

Retail Flyers

24%

14%

20%

28%

34%

Store Websites

24%

19%

8%

35%

28%

Word of Mouth
Recommendations

20%

13%

17%

25%

38%

Brand or Manufacturer
Websites

17%

18%

9%

26%

27%

Online Brand or Product
Reviews

13%

15%

8%

29%

30%

Online Stores w/o Store
Locations or Auction Sites

9%

20%

5%

21%

14%

20%

20%

39%

14%

7%

None of the Above

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Canadian Retailer - Spring 2014

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