Shopper Insights Decision Tree Objective: What thought process leads up to the decision to choose a particular item? Approach: Respondents are asked t...
Shopper Insights Decision Tree Objective: What thought process leads up to the decision to choose a particular item? Approach: Respondents are asked to focus on a specific purchase occasion (i.e., most recent purchase). They rate a series of purchase decision factors on two dimensions – importance and order in which they considered. 2-3 Differentiating variables are also needed for the model. These typically include both a priori (pre-defined) such as brand or type purchased and attitudinal segments (psychographics). Purpose: How much emphasis should various elements receive in marketing, merchandising and communication strategies. Podhurst Associates, Inc
Shopper Insights Decision Tree Example: Food Category What differentiates category users? • Cluster analysis performed on a series of psychographic attributes yields the following segments:
Overwhelmed by the variety, few differences between products, least involved with category.
• Respondents also segmented on brand purchased:
Commoditizers 34%
– 41% Brand A – 26% Other Branded – 33% Store Brand
Category Involved 28%
High emotional connection (comfort food, reminds me of childhood), practical value (quick and nutritious) most discriminating in brand/product choices.
Variety Seekers 38%
Appreciate the number of choices available. Care a lot about flavor/variety but less about brands. Podhurst Associates, Inc
Factor analysis – using the importance ratings – on 18 decisionmaking characteristics yield 6 factors or themes that guide decision-making behavior in this category.
Nutrition
Type
Usage
Flavor/variety
Price
Brand
• Fat content
• Type of package
• When it will be used
• Flavor/variety
• Price
• Specific brand
• How it will be used
• Price per serving
• Manufacturer
• Serving size
• Specific ingredients
• Sodium content • Calorie content
• Cook method
• Nutritional value
• Cook time
• Who in the household it’s for
• Whether had coupon/on-sale
Scoring The Factors
Weighted factor scores are created using the importance and consideration sequence ratings from each attribute in a factor.
Factors are scored for their absolute level and for their degree of differentiation with the segmentation variables.
These scores are then scaled so as to create one composite score for each factor. Podhurst Associates, Inc
Shopper Insights Decision Tree Example: Food Category Mapping The Decision Factors •
The factor scores can be plotted on a map to better understand the relationship between the absolute level and degree of differentiation between segments for each of the factors.
(Importance plus consideration)
Absolute Level
9 8
Flavor/Variety
7 6
Brand Price
5 Usage
4 Nutrition
3
Type
2 5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Degree of Differentiation (Differences Between Segments)
Podhurst Associates, Inc
Shopper Insights Decision Tree
What might the tree look like?
Example: Food Category Flavor/Variety
Brand
Defines consideration set
Brands that can offer a broad range of flavors/varieties are at an advantage.
Price Must be “reasonable” but shoppers not seeing big differences between products/brands
Nutrition
Type
Usage
Help differentiate products within the consideration set. consideration set Podhurst Associates, Inc
Shopper Insights Decision Tree Example: Food Category Decision Hierarchies By Sub-Group • 9
Identifying the varying need sets with which different shopper segments approach the section helps focus efforts against particular products. Brand
(Importance plus consideration)
Absolute Level
8 Flavor/Variety
Flavor/Variety
Flavor/Variety
7 Price
6 Price
Usage
5
Price
Brand
Brand
Usage
Usage
Nutrition
Type Nutrition
Type
Nutrition
4 Type
3 2 Category Involved
Commoditizers
Variety Seekers Podhurst Associates, Inc
Shopper Insights Decision Tree Example: Food Category Decision Hierarchies By Sub-Group •
Identifying the varying need sets with which different shopper segments approach the section helps focus efforts against particular products.
