The In-Store Marketing Institute recently published a comprehensive White Paper on Virtual Store simulation in marketing research. Thorough, but necessarily brief, it left out important examples of the earliest research and commercial work in this field. We summarise the White Paper’s introduction.
Then, in an attempt to fill in the gaps about the beginnings of Virtual Store based shopper behavior studies, we review Morton Heilig’s fantastic 1957 Sensorama machine, Ivan Sutherland’s ‘Ultimate Display’ and the first laboratory based ‘Virtual Shopping Simulation’, by Burke in 1992.
Finally, we look at the late 1990’s commercial research work done for PepsiCo and Procter and Gamble by Fifth Dimension, a pioneer in simulation since 1995. [...]
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Shopping in computer simulated Virtual Stores, as a means of researching shopper behavior, is exciting a great deal of press coverage. It’s not that the technique is new, more that it’s particularly topical, given the dynamics in today’s stores.
Both Retailers and ‘Big Brand’ Manufacturers need to offer the best choice of product at the right price to an ever changing customer base - particularly difficult in today’s spatially challenged retail stores and tight profit margin constraints.
Recognizing these challenges means there will always be keen interest in better, cheaper, faster ways of understanding the most cost-effective and profitable way to innovate product assortment and implement visual merchandising changes in-store.
But can Virtual Stores accurately test Shopper Behavior? Good Question. [...]
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Procter and Gamble is one of the most innovative companies in the retail world and often the first to pioneer emerging technologies. We first worked with them in 1999 on a ‘proof of concept’ project which allowed them to research shoppers’ reactions to a new Mall Kiosk concept they had developed.
After that success, they commissioned us to develop an experimental ‘Virtual Store’, called ‘Spa Lore’, which was our first real opportunity to design a commercial application, purpose-built for the in-depth study of Shopper Behavior.
P&G wanted to research consumers’ potential interest in a new range of personal products. Traditional grocery outlets were rejected as inappropriate hosts for this project. Instead, they preferred the idea of an in-mall specialist store. They wanted to create a unique shopping experience; one which would educate consumers as well as offer them a relaxed atmosphere in which to explore, seek advice on and purchase the products, as part of a holistic personal ‘treatment’. [...]
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