Shopper Intimacy is the authors' variation on “Shopper Insights” (SI). SI is designed to maximize what we know about shoppers, their purchase behavior, and their behavior as consumers, as a way to maximize retail success. The wealth of statistical data retailers can collect and use today – down to the level of an individual consumer – is worlds apart from what retailers dreamed of a decade ago, so a book that helps to move SI forward is a worthwhile read for professionals operating at retail.
The goal of Shopper Intimacy is to provide retailers with a completely new model for business success. The authors base this model on a multi‐year research program completed by POPAI, described as “The Global Association for Marketing at Retail.” The study began in 1998 and was completed several years ago. Later phases of the work were also co‐sponsored by Nielsen. Dick Blatt has been president of POPAI for 17 years, and the two authors collaborated on the POPAI research.
The multi‐phase POPAI study focused on marketing at three specific types of retail stores: convenience stores, drug stores, and supermarkets. The early phases focused on overview issues and the later stages provided a detailed exploration of exactly what combination of layout, marketing materials and related factors led to increases (“lift”) in retail sales.
As part of the process of developing credibility for the new model, the authors include a wealth of historical data, statistical support and other details. As a result, the first six chapters, which detail the various parts of the POPAI study, are very slow going. They are also written in fairly complex prose style, which makes it hard to read and concentrate. Therefore, professionals actively engaged in retail management for one of the three sectors in the book will most likely find the book worthwhile, but casual readers are not likely to have the patience to get through the first several chapters. An example of a typical passage is at the beginning of Chapter 2:
Although the need for research and actionable information is well accepted now, this was not always the case. In 1998, POPAI established a Measured Medium Initiative with the objective of establishing the store and the realm of retail marketing as a measured medium on par with the traditional media. The association set out to develop a common language for the medium that worked with the lexicon of general advertising, measured the marketing activity in the store, and tracked the shoppers' interactions with products and marketing in store (p. 25).
I doubt that “the need for research and actionable information” was a new concept in 1998, but even if one agrees with that statement, only a person dedicated to a full‐time career in retail would take the time to read the entire book.
To fully understand this book the reader needs to start with the Introduction, because the authors outline their “Marketing‐at‐Retail Model” here. They use Chapter 1 to describe their “Retail Ecosystem Analytics Process,” which is about one‐half text and one‐half exhibits. Some exhibits are well explained, but others are not. As a result, I had to read the Introduction and Chapter 1 twice, before I felt I was ready to tackle the rest of the book.
Chapters 2 through 4 (in this order) describe the POPAI study in supermarkets, convenience stores, and drug Stores. Chapter 5 is devoted to pertinent terminology (retail metrics used throughout the book) and the Nielsen PRISM project. To round out the history and statistical support to believe in the new model, Chapter 6 summarizes key points from previous chapters, and outlines specific applications for the new model.
Chapter 7 is an interesting and fun diversion – a chapter devoted to shopper psychology. This was the most interesting chapter in the book, and even casual readers are likely to relate to some of the examples and the theories that support models of shopper behavior.
Chapter 8, “Decision Drivers” describes in great detail what the authors have concluded about how to increase the number of transactions among current and new customers. They do this by reviewing the factors that drive sales and describing how to use these drivers in very specific ways. This was very interesting, primarily because it provides details and specifics about how to apply their model.
Chapter 9, “Online Retailing” is the weakest chapter in the book. Based on what any savvy online shopper knows this chapter is incomplete, dated and addresses a very narrow range of online retailers. The rest of the book is well‐researched and well‐documented, so it is disappointing to read what feels like a “tossed‐in‐at‐the‐last‐minute” chapter. The authors put too much emphasis on a single means of increasing online sales (no spoiler alert here – read it for yourself to find out) to the exclusion of the many other creative ways online retailers have learned to get buyers' to increase profitable purchases. Our work with online clients suggests that it would have been better to delete this chapter than to try to superficially apply to online retailing, what was learned about three specific retail categories.
Chapter 10, “Return on Investment” provides a strong ending to the book. Along with new information useful to retail professionals, the chapter includes ten “tools” retailers can use to maximize sales and profits at retail. A few are intuitively logical, but as a set, they provide a good basis for retail decision making for convenience stores, drug stores and supermarkets.
