POPAI, the Global Association for Marketing at-Retail, announced that it has finalized contract negotiations with Sheridan Consulting for a new three measurement cycle Shopper Engagement Service as conceived and tested during Phase One of POPAI's Marketing At Retail Initiative (MARI) in the United States and the United Kingdom.
- The new service tracks engagement with Marketing at Retail materials as shoppers make their way through the store. Shopper Engagement has been recently defined by the MARI advisory council (MAC), a group comprised of brands and retailers participants. The MAC standard for shopper engagement is when a shopper's eye focuses on an item for at least one second. Shoppers, who participate, wear high-tech microsurgical cameras as they shop. The camera records where the shopper is looking during her shopping trip. Nearly 40 types of materials are being recorded.
In addition to shopper engagement, the service will map the shopper's path through the store, as well as measure optimal shelf height. Online dashboard technology has been created to provide customized ad hoc reports between the three reporting cycles. Furthermore, the study will provide data to calculate another MAC standard, the Impact Ratio. This is the ratio of the number of shoppers who passed the display and who were in a position to see the display versus the number of shoppers who actually saw the display as they shopped the store. For example, 100 shoppers walk passed (P) a dump bin display and of these 30 shoppers saw (S) the dump bin. The impact ratio is S÷P = 30 percent (30 seen ÷100 passed). Using MARI technology and associated algorithms the impact ratios can be calculated for each individual item of MAR display by shopper characteristic or shopper mission.
When asked about MARI, Leslie Nagy, director, marketing services, Pepsi-Cola North America replied, "Through our participation in the first phase of POPAI's MARI Shopper Engagement, Pepsi has seen real potential in improving our understanding of what truly stops shoppers in the aisles and what may be most effective in motivating them to put products into their carts. Knowing what shoppers see and the resulting actions they take will ultimately allow us to enhance the effectiveness of Pepsi's retail marketing programs - which benefits the consumer, the retailer and the manufacturer."
The service will include 24 stores. Safeway, Walgreen's, BP and 7-Eleven are confirmed retail participants. Interested participants are encouraged to contact POPAI directly.
The service is scheduled to be fielded in September. Buyers of the service can expect results in December.
POPAI will maintain a long-term database of the results to compare and contrast shopping behavior in different retail categories, time of day and season. Annual industry reports will be complied and provided to members free of charge.
For more information: www.popai.com/hq.
