Consumer research often attempts to predict future consumer behavior but the reality is that consumers very often say things that don't correspond at all to what they eventually do in-store. In fact, there's often a gaping disconnect between a consumer's needs as articulated in focus groups and the basket of stuff that gets taken home from the store. If the two matched up even the least bit closely, marketing would be a cinch, but they often don't and with good reason -- consumers rarely have a clue why they do what they do in stores! And in other cases, focus group participants simply don't tell the truth, which probably doesn't come as any great shock.
What's been missing is what shoppers actually do in the store! This has largely been the realm of anecdotal data and lab-based studies, both of which are often highly inaccurate.
That's where I believe mobile apps, near field communication, location based services and other intelligent retail technologies are poised to revolutionize our approach to consumer and shopper research. For the first time ever, researchers will be able to connect the expressed needs of consumers with their actual, physical path to purchase. Questions like where they go in the store and where don't they go, where they stop and what they race right by will finally be precisely answerable. What's critical is that marketers can view this kind of information in aggregate according to what thousands of consumers do, not simply within a narrow and controlled study group.
But understanding the consumer's physical path is only one of the new streams of data. The other and more important stream will reveal what they actually engaged and interacted within the space. Which in-store marketing messages did they connect with and for how long? Which coupons did they download? Which products did they scan but put back without buying? Marketers will see where consumers required more or less information to make a decision and perhaps even when they compared prices with competitors before deciding. Even insights on how different ages, sexes and races move through a given retail environment are entirely possible.
Finally marketers can validate the reams of data they currently collect with credible information on the consumer's actual in-store behavior. This presents a whole new world of opportunity to give retail consumers what they want -- potentially without ever once asking them. It's also a chance to better understand the gap between what consumers say and what they do.
In fact, it's entirely possible that this new ability to validate in-store consumer behavior will render front and back end consumer surveys a thing of the past.