James Hall
Professor Elizabeth Harris & April Carlisle
Shopper Marketing 490
October 29th, 2014
Inside the Mind of a Shopper: A look into Peapod
In the book Inside the Mind of Shopper: The Science of Retailing, Doctor Herb Sorensen answers the question “What do you really do when you shop?” Dr. Sorenson stresses that retailers are “leaving” millions in sales by simply not watching and understanding the customer’s behaviors. Dr. Herb Sorensen has some important takeaways from his research that expose the truth about the retail shopper and reject old myths about shopper marketing that lead retailers to miss big revenue opportunities Dr. Sorensen’s book mostly focuses on shopper marketing within large and small supermarkets, in that he uses …show more content…
The key Sorensen points I will use to examine their potential applications for Peapod are: (1) Understanding Shopper trip length, speed of closing sales and Shopper efficiency (2) Explaining big head short tail, product spread (3) Explaining Dual Chaos and Layer merchandising. One key takeaway from Sorensen’s book is that shoppers make small trips to big stores. Most retail stores are designed for large stock-up shopping trips. Only most shopping trips and a third of dollar sales are "quick trips" for only a few items. This research also holds true when discussing ecommerce sites (Lecture Tim Dorgan 10/27/14). Dr. Sorensen claims that the shorter the shopper’s seconds per dollar, the more efficiently the store is operating. In this theory, time really is money, and therefore, Peapod cannot waste its customers’ time by displaying a huge variety of products unselectively. Sorensen explains that there are 3 types of customers: the quick trip, the fill-in, and the stock- up. Quick trip customers spend a short …show more content…
By having everything online rather than in the store, it’s easier for Peapod to organize its products to attack one segment without sacrificing the others. By doing this, Peapod can still keep the 30,000 items available for the shopper that wants (or thinks they want) variety, and for marketing purposes. At the same time, Peapod can keep this variety limited to only the stock-up shopper that really wants to see it. For example, Peapod can use “disguised words” to separate the shopper segments. A tab or section that is labeled “essential express lane” or something with a similar name could be used to target the quick customers that are known to purchase certain products. Taking it a step further, tracking technology that records your past history at checkout could already have your favorite products remembered so checkout would be even quicker for this shopper who values efficiency. For the stock-up shopper that loves browsing the website for products they might not have on their list, a tab/section called “explore the store” or a similar (more clever) name would attract the customer that explores more of the store with longer trip times and have a lower spending speed. Another option that I think this customer segment would value is a “suggested item pop-up” that suggests items based on what they are already clicking
Professor Elizabeth Harris & April Carlisle
Shopper Marketing 490
October 29th, 2014
Inside the Mind of a Shopper: A look into Peapod
In the book Inside the Mind of Shopper: The Science of Retailing, Doctor Herb Sorensen answers the question “What do you really do when you shop?” Dr. Sorenson stresses that retailers are “leaving” millions in sales by simply not watching and understanding the customer’s behaviors. Dr. Herb Sorensen has some important takeaways from his research that expose the truth about the retail shopper and reject old myths about shopper marketing that lead retailers to miss big revenue opportunities Dr. Sorensen’s book mostly focuses on shopper marketing within large and small supermarkets, in that he uses …show more content…
The key Sorensen points I will use to examine their potential applications for Peapod are: (1) Understanding Shopper trip length, speed of closing sales and Shopper efficiency (2) Explaining big head short tail, product spread (3) Explaining Dual Chaos and Layer merchandising. One key takeaway from Sorensen’s book is that shoppers make small trips to big stores. Most retail stores are designed for large stock-up shopping trips. Only most shopping trips and a third of dollar sales are "quick trips" for only a few items. This research also holds true when discussing ecommerce sites (Lecture Tim Dorgan 10/27/14). Dr. Sorensen claims that the shorter the shopper’s seconds per dollar, the more efficiently the store is operating. In this theory, time really is money, and therefore, Peapod cannot waste its customers’ time by displaying a huge variety of products unselectively. Sorensen explains that there are 3 types of customers: the quick trip, the fill-in, and the stock- up. Quick trip customers spend a short …show more content…
By having everything online rather than in the store, it’s easier for Peapod to organize its products to attack one segment without sacrificing the others. By doing this, Peapod can still keep the 30,000 items available for the shopper that wants (or thinks they want) variety, and for marketing purposes. At the same time, Peapod can keep this variety limited to only the stock-up shopper that really wants to see it. For example, Peapod can use “disguised words” to separate the shopper segments. A tab or section that is labeled “essential express lane” or something with a similar name could be used to target the quick customers that are known to purchase certain products. Taking it a step further, tracking technology that records your past history at checkout could already have your favorite products remembered so checkout would be even quicker for this shopper who values efficiency. For the stock-up shopper that loves browsing the website for products they might not have on their list, a tab/section called “explore the store” or a similar (more clever) name would attract the customer that explores more of the store with longer trip times and have a lower spending speed. Another option that I think this customer segment would value is a “suggested item pop-up” that suggests items based on what they are already clicking