POINT-OF-PURCHASE STUDY GROUP

Baker, William E. and Richard J. Lutz, "The Relevance-Accessibility Model of Advertising Effectiveness," in Nonverbal Communication in Advertising, Sid Hecker and Dave W. Stewart eds. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books, 1988, p. 59-84.

Presents a detailed explanation of the Relevance-Accessibility Model, which explains the impacts of prior advertising exposures on the in-store choices consumers later make. It notes that advertising must compete with other information sources at the time of purchase including point-of-purchase display information and that any study of advertising impact outside of the purchase context is likely to overstate that impact. The article presents four propositions explaining how advertising messages are initially absorbed, then processed, and finally used at the point of purchase.

See also: Editorial by Richard Lutz

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Bemmaor, Albert C., "Predicting behavior from intention to buy measures: the parametric case," Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 32 (May 1995), 176-191.

These papers are representative of a substantial body of literature over a period of fifty years discussing the relationship between stated intentions (to buy, e.g.) and actual subsequent purchase behavior. In general, studies have shown that the closer to the actual point of purchase, the lower the stated intent to buy. This argues for measurement of purchase intent at the point of purchase, if actual observation of purchase is not feasible.

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Berstell, Gerald , "Point-of-sale research reveals spontaneous buying decisions," Marketing News, Vol. 26, no. 12, June 8, 1992, p. H-31.

Provides a brief introduction to point-of-sale research, outlining benefits of the method compared to traditional focus group and survey research. These benefits include improved participant qualification, ability to target participation of specific segments, ability to get input/perspectives from multiple members of a decision-making unit, increased immediacy of response, and elimination of research costs including expenses for telephone screening, special facilities, and participant compensation.

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Berstell, Gerald, "Study what people do, not what they say," Marketing News, Vol. 26., No. 1, January 6, 1992, p. 7.

Briefly introduces the customer case market research method, which is conducted at the site of product purchase or use. This method was designed to overcome problems contributing to excessive new product failure rates; it 1) uncovers motivations through demonstrated actions, not through opinion statements, 2) is conducted in the surroundings where a product is bought or used in order to achieve greater response immediacy, 3) uses observation and documentation to stimulate questions and validate responses, and 4) accesses multiple decision-makers. 

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Berstell, Gerald and Nitterhouse, Denise, "Looking Outside the Box," Marketing Research, Vol. 9, No. 2, Summer 1997, p. 5-13.

Provides a detailed presentation of customer case research (CCR)' an exploratory research method used to generate new hypotheses to crack marketing problems and spawn new product ideas. Case research is usually conducted on the customers' turf - at the point of sale or use. CCR's greatest value is its ability to uncover seven categories of purchase drivers that have often been "outside the box" of previous research work. The article describes and illustrates these seven drivers, lays out the key characteristics of the CCR research process, and discusses the theoretical foundation of the method.

In a year, between 20% and 23% of adults account for all survey responses, and a tiny 4% to 5% of adults account for more than half the survey responses . . . .  Thus, the research industry may be burning out the small fraction of heavy responders.  Future efforts should be directed toward expanding the scope of survey participation so as not to overwork and overwhelm this 5%.

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Dickson, Peter R. and Sawyer, Alan G., "The Price Knowledge and Search of Supermarket Shoppers, " Journal of Marketing, 54(1990), 42-53.

Uses point-of-purchase observation and questioning to show that many grocery shoppers don't check the price of items selected, that most don't know the prices of items just placed in their shopping carts, and that most purchasing items on special are unaware that the price had been reduced. Since subjects were questioned immediately after selecting items, there was little opportunity for them to forget prices. The point-of-purchase method thus helps challenge the premise that most consumers are aware of and sensitive to grocery prices in the first place.

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Ganzach, Yoav and Mazursky, David, "Time dependent biases in consumer multi-attribute judgment," Journal of Economic Psychology, 16 (1995), 331-349.

Describes two research experiments one in a laboratory setting and one in a field setting. The purpose of the article is not to compare the two approaches, but to show that both confirmed the proposed hypothesis: that, when people are exposed to a product with negative attributes, their overall judgments become more positive if there is a delay between the time they experience the negative attributes and the time at which they must make judgments on the product.

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Hruby, William J. and Sorensen, James, "The Point of Packaging," Boxboard Containers International, Vol. 107, No. 2, September 1999, p.14-16.

The package is a critical piece of the marketing mix, and consumer research conducted at the point-of-purchase most effectively evaluates a package's ability to generate shelf impact.

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One effective way to improve a package's communication is through the picture of the product.  Research may help identify the ideal combination of functional and graphic elements.  It helps to always do package research in the real-world environment where the package will compete in the market.

Observing shoppers choose products from a shelf or when they are casually asked to explain their preferences leads to a wealth of qualitative information.

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Kalwani, Manohar U. And Alvin J. Silk, "On the Reliability and Predictive Validity of Purchase Intention Measures," Marketing Science, Vol. 1, No. 3 (1982), 243-286.

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Kay, David, "Go where the consumers are and talk to them," Marketing News, Vol. 31., No. 1, January 6, 1997, p. 14.

"Purchase decisions are made in the store, the showroom, the restaurant. This is where consumer research should be conducted, too. . . When the premises are the subject of research, or when the purchase decision is made with one eye on the shelf and one hand on the shopping cart, the research should be conducted on site."

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Klatzky, Roberta L. (1991), "Let's Be Friends." American Psychologist, 46(1),43-45.

Discusses the critical difference between "laboratory experiments" [e.g., simulated tests] and "everyday research" [e.g., in-store research]. Recognizes the reduced ability to control the "laboratory of the everyday", but shows that giving up this control is necessary in order to get some realistic data from the real, everyday world.

Consumers say one thing and do another.  In-store research captures their behavior where it matters -- at the shelf.

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Landry, John T., "Positioning the Product: Know Where Your Rivals Are," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74, No. 6, November-December 1996, p. 13.

Presents research conducted by Stephen Nowlis of Arizona State University and Itamar Simonson of Stanford University. The research demonstrates that buying situations measurably impact how people see and respond to products. Landry warns researchers to measure consumer preferences in the same contexts that they encounter in the marketplace, noting that "consumers don't make decisions in a vacuum" or in the research settings in which they're frequently asked to evaluate products and product concepts.

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Using a large-scale consumer database, the authors investigate how actual behavioral frequency and duration affect the direction of errors in consumer survey responses.

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Lutz, Richard J. (1991), "Editorial," Journal of Consumer Research, 17(4)

Advocates greater attention to real consumer behavior issues through three strategies: 1) Use natural consumer settings as research sites to enable the discovery of new, unanticipated, and possibly critical behaviors that do not occur in laboratory settings. 2) Investigate behaviors not only within highly-controlled contexts with few variables, but also within the complex contexts in which they normally occur. 3) Simultaneously use multiple approaches to investigate a phenomenon in order to produce complementary perspectives.

See also: "The Relevance-Accessibility Model of Advertising Effectiveness" by Lutz and Baker

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Miller, Ken, "Break-Through Concepts from Beyond the Focus Group," Brandpackaging, May-June 1999, p. 16-22.

It takes more than graphic "tweaks" to regenerate a brand or invent a category.  You have to meet the consumer at the store shelf or in the home.  When you hear resistance, ask consumers how the design fails and how it could be improved.

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Morwitz, Vicki G.; Johnson, Erick; and Schmittlein, David, "Does Measuring Intent Change Behavior?" Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20, June 1993, p. 46-61.

The authors demonstrate clearly that simply asking purchase intent actually alters subsequent purchase behavior. [This would argue for observation at the point of purchase, rather than asking.] Although the studies were not conducted at the point of purchase, "natural research settings" were used, (and are advocated) rather than a controlled, structured test environment.

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Nitterhouse, Denise

See: Berstell and Nitterhouse

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Purchase-intention surveys can take you only so far; marketers would also do well to observe consumers in real buying situations.

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In-store interviewing is the essence of statistical security because working evenings and weekends you can avoid competitive interests and at the same time draw from an environment where respondents are seldom interviewed.  So you solve both problems of security and past participation if you collect your data in the marketplace.

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See:  Hruby and Sorensen

Consumer culture is based on personal convenience.  Away from the marketplace, shoppers cease to think like consumers.  So when market researchers insist on an environment that serves their needs, subsequent communication becomes unreliable.

When a study, carefully designed according to market preconceptions, breaks apart on the rocks of market reality, then reality is communicating loudly and clearly.  The only failure possible is the failure to listen closely and to learn the truth which may have equal or greater value than the originally planned data.

Beyond human relations training, designing saleable interviews would help our field teams.  While the interview is designed in office time and space, it's presented by the interviewer in consumer time and space.  Interviewers are facing the real live consumer in the marketplace and a short, relevant interview enables them to better engage the consumers' opinions and interest.

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Stevens , R. E., "Testers vs. Users," "Assessment in Context" and others. Views from the Hills of Kentucky, Genesis II, 1990- current.

This series of pithy essays reflect 40 years of market research experience at Procter & Gamble and the perspective of a pioneer of in-store research.

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