Retailing
Retail stores and other product and
service firms that deal with consumers are continually faced with
competitive pressures to attract and retain customers. The ability
to gauge the customers experience is a daunting challenge. For
years, firms have used mystery shopper programs as one way to provide
input to their management processes. These programs are typically
very costly and are only capable of measuring a likely customer
experience at a moment in time, unless the process is completed on a
continual basis. Pioneer Marketing Research has been a leader in
the introduction of innovative, cost effective techniques for gauging
the customer experience and helping retail establishments drive traffic
back to their locations.
Customer Satisfaction
The key measures of customer satisfaction if the customer's
willingness to repeat the shopping experience and recommend the store
to others. In CTI customer studies, we strive to measure and
improve the customer's experience. At every point of customer
contact we have attributes of satisfaction to measure and compare,
including the initial impression, attractiveness of displays,
responsiveness of staff, quality of merchandise, accommodating special
requests, and perceived value.
Using personal interviews and CTI methods, we collect the information
and analyze the findings to identify ways to improve the likelihood
that customers will return, repurchase, or repeat the experience.
Alternative Choices
It is relative easy to determine which customers repeat the experience
by reviewing their charge record. However, it is more difficult
to determine when a shopping experience is unsatisfactory. It is
also more difficult to determine the ethnographic makeup of the
customer sample within the context of the items purchased, or the
influence of displays and sales people, in order to change the
customer demographics and improve traffic patterns and sales.
Using mall intercepts and CTI responses, we collect the data to
determine customer decision or buying patterns based on multiple
options.
With conjoint analysis, we help clients determine which items of
merchandise are likely to have the greatest attraction with selected
customer subsets or the population in general. In specialty
chains, we help determine which items are likely to have the greatest
following, at what price they can be offered, and not cannibalize the
sales of primary items for which the establishment is known.
Packaging
For many stores and chains sales are, in large measure, dependent on
the packaging and pricing of the alternatives. We help determine
the appropriate packaging and/or pricing for prepackaged goods and the
extent to which packaging plays a role in the consumers' decisions to
purchase the items.
