Video reveals perimeter shopping behaviour for Mondelēz International

There is no doubt that the in-store retail environment has been changing at a rapid pace for many years. Consumers desire fresh, healthier food which drives them to spend more time in the perimeter of the store and less time in the centre store. The perimeter also offers speciality, niche brands which are an attractive option for consumers as brand loyalty dwindles. 

As one of the leading snack manufacturers in the world for brands such as Ritz, Triscuit, Oreo, and Chips Ahoy!, Mondelēz International recognized a unique opportunity to better understand perimeter shopping. If they could diagnose the needs and behaviour of the perimeter shopper, they could uncover opportunities to show up in the right locations with their mainstream brands to combat niche brands, and ultimately make the overall shopping experience better for the consumer. It would also help drive category leadership with retail partners. 

For one grocer in Quebec Canada, there was interest in understanding how consumers shop the perimeter of their particular store layout, the role of displays around the perimeter, and which displays and locations drive the highest Conversion for Mondelēz categories. But the team at Mondelēz knew that this type of behaviour couldn’t be uncovered with traditional research methods. They had to use a behavioural, quantitative, in-the-moment approach that would reveal not only WHAT shoppers were doing in the perimeter, but also WHY. 

For this project, Mondelēz International consulted NAILBITER to collect hundreds of videos of real shopper transactions around eight perimeter locations of the Quebec grocer. Snacking shoppers were recruited in real-time and asked to take a short mobile video of their perimeter shopping purchase decisions. Then these videos have been collected and converted into metrics and insights, such as: Notice (does the shopper see your brand?), Pick Up (do they pick it up for further consideration?), Cart (do they put it in their basket to purchase?), and Locations/Displays Shopped (where do shoppers Notice and Cart snacks throughout the store?). These unique measures quantify the shopping behaviour and make the data believable and actionable for the Mondelēz team to enhance their perimeter and display strategy.

While the goal was to observe and diagnose perimeter shopping, it was also immediately revealed that by expanding snacking options on the perimeter, snacking shoppers were effectively encouraged to make incremental purchases in other parts of the store, as well. For example, when cookies and crackers were Carted in the perimeter, Notice and Cart rates for cookie and cracker brands nearly doubled in other parts of the store, creating incremental opportunities to drive larger basket sizes. So, by just having the right snacks available on the perimeter, this was enough to inspire shoppers to explore and purchase even more snacks in the centre aisle. 

Perimeter locations such as dairy, bakery, deli, and produce proved to be hot spot locations for Noticing snacks. However, deli and produce in particular didn’t have the variety and assortment that the shopper was looking for. One shopper said: “I didn’t see snacks in the produce or deli & hummus area. I think there should be more crackers in the deli. I should have chocolate [in produce] so people can have it for fun. People often take chocolate & fruits.” So while we learned that shoppers carting Mondelēz categories from the perimeter led to incremental, larger basket sizes, we also discovered that the variety and assortment of brands and categories available on the perimeter could be improved. In fact, one glaring observation discovered was that 1 in 5 perimeter shoppers leave the store without Carting any snacks, despite these products being on their shopping list. Notice for snacks is still strong, but Conversion is low simply because there is a lack of relevant assortment in the perimeter. A missed opportunity that could be easily improved by offering the right snacks in the proper locations.

That led to the final question of the research: what is the role of displays, and how can they be leveraged to enhance perimeter shopping? The research revealed that displays provide a powerful tool to position snacking categories near perimeter locations to drive Notice, but could work hard to convince shoppers to cart. Front of store, deli, dairy, and bakery, in particular, were the most effective locations in driving notice for snacking outside of centre aisle with one shopper saying, “What’s nice about the display [in deli] is that you don’t always have to go into the aisle to see. Saltine crackers can go with dip in the store. It makes a lot of sense.” However, to encourage even more carting from displays, retailers and manufacturers need to make sure that the display has the right brands that are placed in appropriate areas. Having a crackers display in deli, and a cookie display in dairy makes intuitive sense to the shopper because they are complementary categories. But the brands need to be right, too: offering multiple brands and flavour to enhance assortment and displaying mainstream, leading brands offer the most inviting experience for shoppers.

Shoppers will always dictate how the retail environment changes as their needs evolve, but that doesn’t mean that brands and retailers always need to “catch up” with shoppers’ changing behaviour. Brands and retailers can stay in step with these evolving needs by observing their behaviour naturally, in the moment, and at scale in order to effectively pivot strategies and stay in front of emerging trends. For the Canadian insights team at Mondelēz International, they were able to use the perimeter insights to implement shopper marketing activation ideas and make changes to how they prioritize certain categories in key retailers. They also had clear evidence and direction on which displays should go in which locations at the Quebec grocer. Behavioural insight led to meaningful action not just for the shopper, but also to strengthen retailer relationships.