The Marketing at Retail Initiative, dubbed MARI, was initiated five years ago to deliver industry metrics. The project will be the largest qualitative study on shopper engagement in the world and will help to develop a metric [image-nocss] by which brands and retailers can gauge in-store merchandising effectiveness and quantify shopper engagement.
UK-based SheridanGlobal Group Ltd. has been contracted to conduct the research using its purpose designed shopper insight technologies. SheridanGlobal has established a subsidiary company in the United States. MARI will field in the United States in Spring 2009 with the first wave of results delivered in late 2009.
Among participants in the study to date are 7-Eleven Inc., Ahold, Frito-Lay North America, Walgreens, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages and a major mass retailer.
"Marketers and retailers are gathering shopper insight data and factoring that information into their strategic marketing plans which culminate in-store, where as many as 70% of all purchase decisions are made," POPAI president and CEO Dick Blatt said.
"The MARI project will help leverage shopper insights obtained at retail by delivering unprecedented qualitative findings regarding what displays are most effective andmore importantlywhy, in virtually any category, among display type and in-aisle location. The possibilities are limited only by the retail environment. If it's at retail, we can measure its impact," Blatt added.
The MARI study is part of a POPAI strategy which began more than seven years ago to prove the return on investment on marketing-at-retail materials that reach consumers at the moment when purchase decisions are made and where all brand messages delivered through other media culminate. MARI looks at multiple factors influencing consumer decision making in-store, from display location and message to determining the importance of the ability to "wow" consumers with specific messages. It can also now look at shopper behavior as it relates to nonpromoted products sold on-shelf.
"Ultimately, brand marketers, agencies and retailers will have an on-line dashboard that explains which Marketing at Retail vehicles are working best to drive sales and why, in various trade channels, " said Tom Sullivan, president of SheridanGlobal Inc., Fairfield, Conn.
The research is conducted in real stores where shoppers are equipped with special ClipCam glasses. These glasses record video of the consumer's movement and field of vision in-store which is tracked along with their purchases and product interactions. The video is then overlaid with consumer interviews, display audits and other information to create four ratios for each in-store display including impact, effectiveness, engagement and conversion.
The approach was validated in proof of concept tests conducted during phase one in 2007 in the United States and the United Kingdom and this year in a four retailer MARI study in the Netherlands.
POPAI is a nonprofit trade association dedicated to the advancement of the marketing-at-retail advertising medium as an effective method of reaching consumers at retail.
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