Manufacturers can test Product Positioning in Virtual Retail Environments
The advent of the ‘Virtual’ Store has revolutionized the pre-testing possibilities of store layout and merchandising. With the use of sophisticated computer graphics, it is possible to create any retail environment, such as a supermarket, convenience store or petrol station. And by employing highly developed, but easy-to-use, software, consumers are able to ’shop’ the Virtual Store as they would their local store.
It is possible to replicate the current store layout and see how consumers ’shop’ it in terms of their movements round the store; the products they look at on shelf (browsing); [...]
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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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Through 2003 to 2005 Unilever and United Co-op Stores collaborated on designing, testing and implementing a ‘Perfect Store’ layout. Research was commissioned in response to a realization that important Shopper Missions were poorly supported by the layout of typical convenience stores.
We look at Unilever’s’ initial findings and the Virtual Store tests we conducted to understand local shoppers’ reactions to the layout changes. We discuss the insights gained, the new store layout principles developed for refurbishing the format and their subsequent implementation in the pilot store .
The pilot validated the research and proved that, after an initial sales surge, average weekly sales stabilized 8.9% up overall; average spend per customer rose by 9% and the pilot store’s gross profits increased by 9.7%. These improvements were then rolled out to more convenience stores in the Co-op portfolio with similar success. [...]
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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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An Article written by James Durston and published in The Grocer in January 2006
When Unilever UK Foods and United Co-operatives decided to work together to create ‘the perfect store’, it sounded like wishful thinking – not least because it demanded genuine collaboration between a manufacturer and a retailer.
But after two years of research, they’re confident that they’ve pulled it off.
In November, the Co-operative store in Bradwell reopened following a total refit to transform it into a copy of a virtual store created by software company Fifth Dimension. The Grocer visited the store to see how well the reality matched the [...]
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Shoppers often react unpredictably when faced with new ideas and we wanted to use our expertise to build Virtual Stores to explore that behaviour - under more closely controlled conditions than those in a real store. Creating realistic, fully interactive retail environments for testing shoppers’ reactions was, though, still in its infancy in the late 1990s. So, despite our proven track record, we were still something of an unknown quantity to PepsiCo when we met in 1999 to take up their challenge.
Over the next three years we broke new ground in our collaboration with them. We pioneered an innovative Virtual Store application called ‘Discovery’, which PepsiCo successfully used to test radically new retail concepts for Drive-Through Fast Food Outlets, Convenience Stores and full sized Grocery Stores, further enhancing their reputation as thought leaders in the process. [...]
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An article written by Liz Hamsen which was published by The Grocer in September 2005.
When you picture perfection, what do you see? Brad Pitt? Angelina Jolie? Bradwell Co-op? Unlike the majority of the population who plump for the Hollywood stars when asked to name images of perfection, United Co-operatives and Unilever UK Foods have rather a different ideal. And the Bradwell store in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire is it.
At the moment, Perfect Store, as the project is known, exists only in the virtual world, but the plan is to translate it into reality at Bradwell. The store has been the subject [...]
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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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Today’s Eye Tracking systems measure what’s called the ‘Point-of-Regard’ by a technique called the ‘Pupil Center, Corneal Reflection’ method. The equipment consists of a matrix of LEDs emitting non-dazzling infra-red light, which is directed into the subject’s eyes. The light enters the retina and is reflected back as a bright disc.
These reflections are detected by an infra-red camera and the data processed by software, which, once calibrated with registration points, resolves the information into specific x and y coordinates that record the position of the subject’s gaze. It does this by identifying the centre of the pupil and the position of the corneal reflection in the field of view and then, using trigonometry, it’s able to calculate a precise point-of-regard position.
The data acquired during an extended eye tracking session can, for example, be overlaid on the original visual stimulus so that insights can be gained from the subject’s interaction with the material. [...]
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