A Shopper’s Purchase Journey Is No Longer Linear; It Is Multifaceted and Complex

It feels like only yesterday when retail and e-commerce underwent a rapid transformation during COVID-19, compelling shoppers to rely heavily on online channels in the absence of physical shopping options. Today, shoppers have choices over where, when, and how, to shop – in-store, online and via social media. The idea that ‘shoppers only shop online’ is only half true, as there are many studies that show that shoppers prefer discovering new products both online and in-store as Singaporeans desire experiential shopping. This means that the shopping journey is no longer linear; as it is multifaceted and complex, raising the question – how do shoppers browse, shortlist, and decide to purchase?

Understanding A Shoppers’ Path To Purchase

As shoppers’ purse strings get tighter, it is increasingly important for brands to understand how consumers browse and make decisions for brands to secure the primary business objective: sales and revenue. As marketers, we tend to base shopper behaviours by entry points and channels – organic, online paid media, offline media, and more. Before we jump into channel tactics, we must first understand how our shoppers think and act. For example, the same busy working mother who is shopping for groceries online while commuting home may have a different shopping behaviour when she is deciding which bedsheets to buy in a department store for Lunar New Year.

When we put ourselves in the shoes of a shopper, we can understand our shoppers better because we too, are shoppers ourselves. A shopper triggered by a want or need that leads them into a loop between two mental modes when they research – to explore and evaluate options and narrow down their choices, which will eventually lead to a final decision – to purchase. What does this mean for your brand?

What Does This Mean For My Brand?

You may have questions that you wish to uncover to understand your shoppers and drive sales and revenue.

• WHAT: What will I need to do to dig deeper and understand my shoppers in my industry?

• WHO: To drive sales and revenue, who are my heavy shoppers/high-value buyers that I should retain, and who are my light buyers/infrequent buyers that I can grow?

• HOW: How do I understand their purchase behaviours using the data that I have on hand along with consumer behaviour research?

At Digitas, we help you discover and answer the questions above. Together, we will go on a journey with you to understand your shoppers through a Consumer Experience (CX) audit, layering first-party data with syndicated consumer behaviour research to determine how your consumers are shopping. With this, personas can be crafted based on actual consumer data with insights from consumer behavioural studies that help you identify high-value shoppers to retain and ways to encourage more infrequent buyers to purchase. This then helps marketers leverage these learnings to craft sales tactics with the sales team, decide which products to prioritise with the product team, and determine what paid and owned channels to use to market your products. 

Get in touch with us to explore how Digitas CX solutions can help you identify and how to target shoppers to supercharge your sales ahead of these turbulent times.