The First Moment of Truth is how shopper insight was named.
For decades, companies like Procter & Gamble studied every dimension of how products were consumed. They learned how to tweak product design and formulations to deliver the optimal user experience, maximize the perception of benefits, and find ways to drive a little incremental consumption (through things like manipulating the size of the nozzle on toothpaste or the dimensions of a sheet of paper towel).
In the 1990s, driven in part by the growing size of Walmart, companies realized how much opportunity existed in placing a similar emphasis on understanding and influencing how shoppers behaved at the point of purchase.
Thisidea revolutionized how companies made decisions to invest in in- and out-of-store shopper marketing (another term and role that came out of this new focus on FMOT).
This topic has evolved significantly in just two decades and gone from being a point of differentiation to a necessary part of simply being competitive in most categories.
The maturity of online shopping and the utilization of mobile devices (the omni-channel experience) have made the study of FMOT even more complicated and more involved.
But most of the core principles haven’t changed.
Understanding FMOT involves understanding the following shopping components and how shoppers behave with or react to each:
Cross-retailer shopping: Some categories are always bought at the same store while other categories may involve multiple trips to multiple retailers every time a purchase is considered.
Total store navigation: How do shoppers move throughout the store? This includes understanding how much of the store they cover, what pattern they use to progress through the store, what in-store signs guide their route and how time is spent in different areas.
Utilization of guides: How are paper, digital or mental shopping lists used to guide the trip?
Impact of external distractions: Shopping trips with kids and trips in crowded stores can produce very different behaviors leading to very different results.
Duration and extent of engagement with the store shelf: Some categories represent routine purchases completed in less than 10 seconds while other categories consume extended time evaluating numerous options before a decision is made.
Visual evaluation of labels and package information: Some products are immediately recognized simply by their brand logo or package silhouette while others may have 20 different variants to pick from, requiring a closer examination of the package before a product is selected.
Utilization of out-of-store sales or promotional material: Sunday circulars are no longer the primary vehicle to drive awareness of assortment, new products or promotions. Shoppers can turn to a variety of online tools to build their plans of what stores will be shopped for what items at what time.
Cherry-picking v. habit v. loyalty: In some categories, loss leaders still incentive opportunistic purchases or pantry loading. Other categories may have more consistent purchase patterns based on the simplicity of habit or true loyalty to a particular brand or product.
Impact of in-store sales and promotions: In-store promotions (including demos) can always create incentive to make an unplanned purchase. They may involve a new category, repurchasing from a category sooner than planned or spontaneously switching to a different product.
Reaction to out-of-stocks: Not being able to make a planned purchase can result in several reactions. Shoppers may walk out of the store empty-handed or switch to another option they consider acceptable depending on their needs and how substitutable they view items to be.
Engagement with merchandising or displays: Efforts to provide more point-of-purchase education, information or salesmanship are producing more programs that demand time and attention from shoppers. Some will halt their shopping and fully engage while others go unnoticed. Much of this depends on how de-sensitized shoppers have become to seeing various elements.
Engagement with packaging: Beyond looking at packaging sitting on a shelf, shoppers may choose to pick it and up and read the side or back or they may even attempt to open it to evaluate or touch the product inside, creating a damaged, unsellable product in the process.
Limitations of budget or time: Shoppers frequently have less money or time than they’d like to go on a shopping trip. This forces a prioritization of where money is spent and how time is allocated during the shopping trip.
Navigation of the shelf modular: The size and configuration of how a category is presented can have a huge impact on how shoppers work their way through the shelf to find a product to ultimately buy.
Correlated category purchases: Many categories are bought together because they are being used to accomplish a larger objective. These often revolve around a room (i.e. the kitchen), a task (i.e. cleaning) or an occasion (i.e. planning a party).
Treatment by trip type: The behaviors that go along with large stocking up trips are completely different than the quick fill-in trip squeezed into the commute home from work.
Impulsive behavior: Unplanned purchases happen all the time. But they shouldn’t be confused with unintentional purchases. Good in-store promotional execution or product adjacencies should trigger awareness of additional needs or wants. So should online recommendations based on search history.
Interaction with associates: Employees can help reinforce store equities and close sales or cause disappointment and confusion that sacrifices future shopping trips thatripple well beyond failing to help close the immediate purchase opportunity.
Purchase abandonment: Virtual shopping carts have made it even easier for shopping trips to prematurely end, leaving wanted items stuck in inventory. Similar behaviors continue to happen in the bricks & mortar world as well.
Limitations of transportation or storage capacity: Despite typically offering the best per-unit cost, large count packs aren’t always an option when they cannot be easily transported home or room doesn’t exist to store them at home.
Compliance audits: It is difficult to accurately evaluate sales performance when foundational assumptions are wrong. Store audits can reveal if poor sales performance is driven by incomplete or inaccurate modular compliance, poor or delayed merchandising or promotional execution or even inaccurate or missing price tags.
While not exhaustive, the above list should reinforce how extensive and involved FMOT can be. While certain areas will be more or less relevant to certain categories, any category will benefit from more comprehensive knowledge of what the shopping and purchase process looks like.
