Little debate remains concerning the importance and power of shopper insights in optimizing retail execution. The challenge is that navigating the data and information landscape in many organizations can be overwhelming. Some companies have large databanks of research insights — some centralized, some siloed within functions and channel groups—and need help organizing and benchmarking what they have. Others have little research and data in-house and just don’t know where to start. This can lead to fielding of disconnected, one-off studies that under-deliver on meaningful insights and hurt a company's ability to lead and win in key markets.
GfK's Shopper Insights Assessment & Learning Roadmap helps companies bring order to the chaos. The process starts with a comprehensive compilation and inventory of existing insights. Insights inventories are then benchmarked against industry best practices to identify key gaps. Finally a learning roadmap is created to prioritize studies needed to close those gaps. This fundamental process is customized to each client's particular needs.
The first step is to collect and establish an inventory of all existing shopper insights. We work across the company to collect, organize, and catalog existing research and analysis. This involves a series of fieldwork interviews across a range of functions and office locations and may also include agency and broker partners. Our goal is to uncover all that is known across the organization about the consumer and the shopper, and create a central library for all insight material.
In this step, we benchmark current insights against best practice players within the category and across the broader industry. Our real-world perspective and deep insights experience leaves us uniquely suited to help our clients evaluate their current insights foundation, and determine what is needed to turn insights into a competitive advantage.
Our assessment provides a clear and concise picture of the current insight foundation on two levels:
In the final step, we work with our clients to establish learning priorities by developing a plan to address priority insight gaps and significantly and systematically strengthen the insights foundation. This learning roadmap lays out a detailed 2-4 year plan of priority research studies, including recommended methodologies and budget ranges. Our focus is on driving the learning that will make a difference with shoppers and retailer partners.
Here we leverage the broader resources of our GfK network to ensure we get the right methodologies to cost-effectively deliver the needed insights.
To learn more about GfK Shopper Insights Assessments and Learning Roadmaps, contact us today.