Dell Studies the Purchase Journey

Consumer electronics shoppers are deeply confused and unhappy about their path to purchase, according to research released in June 2015 by Dell Inc. That points to an array of opportunities for shopper marketers.Conducted last holiday season in partnership with Bowen Consulting and Kantar Retail with 1,000 Dell shoppers, the survey covered all stages of the purchase journey, segmenting shoppers by trip needs rather than demographics or other factors, and spanned the gamut of brick-and-mortar and online retailers.As Dell presented the research to various retail partners, the findings brought them beyond the edge of their seats, says Dell's Dan Seymour, director, North American retail, shopper marketing. “It’s eye-opening to them, especially in light of the fulfillments, both positively and negatively of the shopper needs for them versus their competitors,” he says. “People were getting out of their seats, and not because they couldn’t see well. They wanted to make sure they understood, and to walk right up to the screen and point. … You saw the competitive juices kick into high gear.”Uncertainty to the EndAmong the findings that made Seymour sit up and take notice was the percentage of respondents who said they still felt they had much to learn at different phases along the path to purchase. At the beginning of the experience, 87% agreed with that statement. By the middle of the shopper journey, as they were narrowing down their choices, 56% said so. At the end, when shoppers tailored their specs and made a purchase, 55% still felt less than fully informed.Perhaps not surprisingly, only 57% rated their experience as “very good,” Seymour notes. “There was a lot to be desired,” he says. “There was much that we could do better on the shopping journey. Those are really high percentages when you compare them to the CPG category, which is less involved, less technical and less fast-moving.”Steve Bowen of Bowen Consulting says that “sheer level of confusion” means that in addition to setting up the shelf and selling product, consumer electronics brands and retailers must educate their consumers. “Things change so rapidly,” he says. “There is so much need for [shopper marketing] to help these people out as they stumble along this journey.”Seymour and his colleagues were also surprised to find out that consumers take as long as 8-9 weeks on average to purchase a desktop computer and 5-6 weeks for most other types of devices. “They’re doing their research and narrowing down choices,” he says. “There is so much [information], it takes some time to absorb it all.”View full-size image.Performance in Different ChannelsThe survey showed the strength of consumer electronics specialty stores like Best Buy, with 69% of shoppers who visited such stores eventually purchasing from them (56% in-store and 13% online) and 63% of those who visited consumer electronics retailer websites doing the same (38% in-store and 25% online).In contrast, mass/club retailers won the business of only 26% of those who visited their stores and 27% who visited their websites. For office supply stores, the respective figures were 18% in-store and 20% online. Seymour found those latter figures “shocking,” but he reasoned, “You don’t have that salesperson there to assist you in those last few questions to get you over the hump.”These findings can be invaluable to retailers. Bowen says it informs them “of the shoppers that I had a shot at, how many did I retain? And, where am I leaking out to? You can look at what kinds of trips are going elsewhere and start to get very strategic.”In the early stages of the shopper journey, only 17% of consumers said they had decided on a brand. That grew to 40% during the middle “narrow down” phase and 56% at the end “tailor and choose” stage. But Seymour notes that contrasts with CPG retail. “It’s not 90%,” he says. “At CPG, if you want Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, you’re locked into it.”Based Around Trip NeedsThe Dell research identified six trip needs among shopper respondents, three of which focused on education (awareness & inspiration, education & empowerment, details & validation) and three on the shopping process itself (intuitive organization & navigation, convenient shortcuts, favorable process & policies). There are also three core needs: trust, price/value and convenience.“What matters is the need state by retailer,” Seymour says. “The trip needs, those are foundational. We need to make sure we’re getting into the shopper marketing methodology.” Retailers who performed better on the trip needs and core needs each had higher-than-average performance in converting shoppers, the survey showed. “You need to identify who your target shopper is, what needs you’re doing well at and not doing well at, and do your best to improve those,” he says.View full-size image.Creating InspirationWhile the three process-related needs are not unimportant, retailers’ opportunity lies in enhancing their shopper marketing work around the education-related needs, according to James Sorensen, senior vice president, retail & shopper, Kantar Retail.That involves “creating inspiration in the shopping process, introducing people to new products, making them aware of new features, educating and empowering them about those, and then ultimately helping them make final decisions,” he says. “Where most retailers don’t do a great job, particularly brick-and-mortar, is earlier in the journey – helping people get information.”During the awareness & inspiration phase, the salesperson takes on greater importance in consumer electronics than in other categories, Seymour says. “Not all shoppers value it as much as others,” he says. “All do to some degree, whether to ask for a specific price or specs, while others will say, ‘Help me out. I need someone to walk me through this process [beginning to end].’”The trip mission segmentation made the Dell study unusual, Bowen says. “It’s not a segmentation of shoppers and the needs they carry with them that … largely don’t change from one retailer to the next. If you’re a price shopper at Walmart, you’re a price shopper at Costco,” he says.“A lot of people will do shopper segmentation,” Sorensen adds. “It’s a nuance, but a very significant nuance. If you segment people [by trip need] you can target those people – but those people may operate and respond differently to the shopper journey.”View full-size image.While online can be useful for shoppers in comparing and contrasting specs, at some point most want to get into the store and actually see and touch the merchandise, Seymour says.While CPG might have consumer electronics beat in terms of development of shopper marketing, consumer electronics is more advanced in understanding omnichannel presence, Bowen says. “You’ve got to know, what are they [shoppers] expecting of me” in different settings, he says.Websites are more helpful in educating consumers in the early phases, Sorensen notes. “Dot-com retailers are much more showrooms than brick-and mortar,” he says. “Brick-and-mortar [stores] have a higher conversation rate. Online, people check prices and features, and then they go into the store to purchase.”The store is used during all phases of the process, but in different ways, Sorensen says. Early in the journey, shoppers would like to use brick-and-mortar to touch and feel products, investigate their features and narrow down choices. Then, later, it’s where they come back to purchase.“Many times, retailers excel at the transaction but not as much in training their associates to engage,” he says. “If they do [associate training] well, the benefits are two-fold: One, they will build loyalty. People are more likely to come back if you help them. Two, if we can help them early, we might change that 10-week purchase process to eight weeks, or seven weeks. … If I don’t get engaged, and I just get a transaction, maybe next time I buy online.”

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