Where do they go? What do they do?

Customers who enter a store are subject to a multitude of influences during their visit. Sales area design, traffic areas, informational items, communication elements (signage), etc., are all customer relation interfaces.

What exactly happens when they enter the store?

Which aisles do they prefer and why? Do they – still – follow the path imagined by the sales area design experts? What determines their choices? Does signage influence their path through the sales area, or is the customer’s trajectory more subconscious as he pursues a predetermined goal? Do consumers seek to first satisfy their primary reason for visiting the store? Do information, new offers, in-store advertising locations, aisle head displays, product promos, etc. affect their decision to purchase particular products? If so, in what way and to what extent?

People who manage business and marketing departments ask all these questions – but do they have the financial and/or technical tools to answer them correctly?

Clearly, what was true yesterday is even more, true today: Better understanding the “customer path”, better understanding customers’ habits, what they deem important, the major factors in their decision-making process, will all lead to a better understanding of what, exactly, in the sales area can influence their choices. So do studies of the customer’s path and more generally CRM studies increase operational effectiveness? Personally, I am convinced of it! What about you?

An article that I think is very useful, published on the CSC agency site