Shoppers Spend Less Time in Grocery, More in C-Stores: MegaStudy

By Lynne Cooke

Shoppers are spending less time in supermarkets and more time in convenience stores, according to two national studies by VideoMining Corp., the leading provider of shopper behavior analytics.

  

The third annual Grocery MegaStudy found that shoppers are spending 5 percent less time in grocery stores compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the sixth annual C-Store MegaStudy found that shoppers’ time in convenience stores increased 6 percent from the previous year.

  

These shifts are in line with the broader national trends surrounding channel blurring and its impact on trip missions. But these measures only reveal part of the picture and raise many questions. To address these questions and to add greater depth and value to the insights, VideoMining integrates behavioral data with a range of other data sources, including transaction data and exit interviews. In the C-Store MegaStudy, for example, this integration showed a correlation between time in store and average dollar basket size, which grew by 9 percent.

VideoMining's standard tracking programs provide a foundational understanding of shopper behavior by harnessing the power of in-depth data from 14 million shopping trips. In collaboration with top grocery and c-store retailers, the MegaStudy programs provide detailed analyses of shopper interactions with over 220 categories, insight into behaviors of key shopper segments like Hispanics and Millennials, and a number of special interest reports.

Engaging shoppers for longer periods can lead to increased basket size in C-stores, said Mark Delaney, VideoMining's Senior Vice President of Retail. Identifying the factors driving these increases and which levers can be pulled to maximize the value of longer in-store visits is the key for manufacturers and retailers.

“Convincing time starved shoppers to spend more time is a challenge that the convenience channel seems up for,” Delaney said. “One key is ensuring they have the right assortment to satisfy shoppers who are increasingly concerned about healthy eating and expecting tailored offerings by time of day. Our MegaStudy provides the next-level insights to understand what's actually happening at the shelf and helps retailers and manufacturers crack the code for increasing sales.”

Based on the initial release that total time in supermarkets has fallen off 5%, VideoMining suggests digging deeper to understand what impact that is having on the different elements of the overall shopping trip. For example, and on the plus side, checkout time has dropped by 33% likely due to the continued adoption of self-checkout technologies. While that means shoppers now have more time for other activities, how are they using this time?

In the latest MegaStudy, navigation time has increased by 60% and shopper the Center Store is also up by 20%. Shoppers appear to be using time gained from faster checkout experience to explore and shop more of the Center Store.

VideoMining says the focus on Center Store is also reflected in a shift in the ratio of Center Store to racetrack shopping. In the most recent study, 44% of total shopping time was spent in Center Store vs. 32% for the previous study, thus approaching a 50/50 split.

Analysis shows that Dairy is the strongest performing department across the board with Exposure Rate (store traffic to department traffic) of 66%, Engagement Rate (department traffic to shoppers) of 60%, and Closure Rate (department shoppers to buyers) of 80%. When exploring the path to purchase for various departments, Pet Care, Personal Care and Baby Care received the lowest traffic per 100 customers at 14, 17 and 18 respectively and also represent the highest potential for growth with shopper leakage ranging from two to three times revenue per 100 customers. Departments receiving the highest traffic are Deli/Prepared Foods and Dairy at 72 and 66 per 100 customers – far out distancing the nearest departments of Snacks and Non-Alcoholic Beverages at 40 and 36. However, Snacks and Non-Alcoholic Beverages both have engagement rates of 70% or higher and closure rates of nearly 80%, while Deli/Prepared Foods has an engagement rate of just 31% but a similar closure rate at 78%.

According to VideoMining, these path to purchase metrics highlight the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of various departments and help identify opportunities for growth. For example, high engagement, high closure rate departments like Snacks could benefit from additional locations or special displays around the store to increase exposure.

Dr. Rajeev Sharma, the company's founder and CEO, said VideoMining provides the insights needed to fully understand what is driving the longer shopping time and how retailers and manufacturers can leverage that time to generate higher sales and a better shopper experience.

“By delivering actionable information and recommendations to stakeholders in key areas from category management and shopper marketing to space planning,” Sharma said, “VideoMining provides the data and prescriptive analytics tools to truly optimize retail strategies.” 

For nearly a decade, VideoMining has been filling the gap in understanding in-store shopper behavior with its industry standard MegaStudy programs in Grocery and C-Store. Offering a suite of over 250 detailed reports as well as custom research and testing options, the Grocery and C-Store MegaStudy programs deconstruct and analyze millions of shopping trips to uncover the key drivers of in-store behavior and shopper responses to the range of variables in the retail environment.