Virtual Evaluation of Store Environment

Did you ever wish you could observe how customers will really react to your in-store environment long before you build or approve the final design?

How useful would it be to know the value of each individual in-store environment decision?

What if you could maximize the combination of design elements to gain the absolute strongest positive impact on your consumers?

New Methodology

What we have created is an innovative methodology that maximizes store environment impact through a virtual evaluation of the contribution of each environmental element as well as combinations of elements.

Advantages of Our Approach

Our Approach

Costs significantly less than setting up a concept store or implementing an in-market test

Provides greater ability to isolate and measure the implications of each potential action

Allows for observations of customer behavior, exploration of customer reactions and reasoning – without introducing observer bias or inconsistency

Limitations of Alternative Approaches

Today, most store design research is accomplished through one or a combination of traditional research methodologies - focus groups or 1-on-1 interviews, shop-alongs, in-market tests / concept stores and online research showing packaging. While it is true that each of these methodologies has its place and each can be effective ways of evaluating a package design and gaining customer insight, on its own each also has its limitations. For example:

The customer is often limited in her ability to provide meaningful input on a given environment in a focus group or shop-along setting.

Limitations of Alternative Approaches

Focus groups and shop-alongs are further limited by their inability to provide consistency of observations across respondents – are respondents shown exactly the same thing each time? To what degree is the interviewer or moderator introducing bias into the results?

Not least among the limitations of more traditional research methodologies are the costs involved. Creating a concept store or implementing an in-market test can often be cost prohibitive. Finally, all of these methodologies require an experienced and knowledgeable researcher who has the ability to interpret or translate the results of the research into actions that will maximize the in-store design.

The Ideal

Ideally, we would utilize a methodology that takes the best of all of the traditional research methodologies without the limitations. This product goes a long way toward meeting this ideal. This product would allow clients to evaluate in-store environments prior to their rollout without incurring the incredible expense of in-market testing, while at the same time eliminating many of the limitations of focus groups and shop-alongs.

The Method

Step 1
-Define your business objectives and realm of potential actions

Step 2
-Construct the evaluation including exposure variations, test design, key metrics, analysis plans, etc.

Step 3
-Create the survey including store environment images and measurements=

Step 4
-Fielding the survey with your sample or ours

Step 5
-Completing the analysis and reporting the findings

Demonstration

In-Person Demonstration available upon request