This learning led to packaging with enhanced appetite appeal, which was critical in driving additional impulse purchases. The second fundamental challenge is to understand how people sort through a given product category. Since people make over a dozen purchases in a typical supermarket shopping trip, it is not surprising that most of their decisions are more emotional than rational and that people rarely take the time to read back labels or to actively compare products and prices. Instead, shoppers use visual symbols to sort through the vast array of options and make quick decisions. This knowledge is critical, because it allows marketers and designers to prioritize messages and communicate visually.
Many companies try to understand customers by observing people as they shop.
In addition, you often find that what people do is far different from what they say. For example, when we asked people about shopping for photo film, very few admitted any difficulty or confusion in selecting the right product. However, when we videotaped them at the display, it revealed that many customers spent a minute or more struggling to find or decide among different product forms. While observational research is valuable in documenting what people do, it is limited in helping marketers understand why people make their decisions. Therefore, we recommend supplementing observational research with focus groups, which provide the time necessary to allow shoppers to speak in greater depth about their shopping mindset, their priorities and their perceptions of different brands.