Shopper Research Solutions: Turning Behaviour into Action
In Part One of this series, we explored how understanding shopper behaviour strengthens marketing strategy and improves execution across the value chain. In this second article, we shift the focus to how Frontline Research Group (FRG) delivers those insights in practice through a structured suite of shopper research products.
With over three decades of retail research experience across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, FRG has developed shopper research solutions specifically designed for complex, fast-evolving and often fragmented retail environments. Each solution has a distinct focus, allowing clients to choose the depth, frequency and strategic application that best suits their commercial objectives.
Together, these four shopper research options provide a comprehensive, modular framework for understanding shoppers, influencing behaviour and measuring impact.
1. ShopperTrack
ShopperTrack is FRG’s longitudinal shopper tracking solution. Its primary strength lies in monitoring key shopper variables over time, enabling clients to identify trends, shifts and emerging opportunities in shopper behaviour.
ShopperTrack focuses on three core areas:
Shopper demographic profiles
Understanding who the shopper is and how demographic shifts may be influencing purchasing behaviour.
Basket analysis
Including:
- Share of basket
- Prices paid
- Variants and pack sizes selected
This provides a clear view of competitive performance within real purchase baskets.
Shopper missions
Identifying the reason for the shopping trip, whether top-up, bulk buying, immediate consumption, planned purchase or impulse-driven.
Shopping experience
How good is display quality, shelf position and location, convenience, variety offered, and the refrigeration (where applicable).
Promotions and messaging – recall and impact
By tracking these variables consistently, ShopperTrack enables brands to respond proactively to changes in shopper behaviour rather than reacting after performance has already shifted.
2. ShopperView
While ShopperTrack shows what is changing, ShopperView explains why it is changing. ShopperView is FRG’s deep-dive shopper segmentation and insight solution, designed to uncover meaningful shopper archetypes and the value they represent.
ShopperView studies include:
A robust segmentation framework
Defining shopper archetypes based on purchase drivers and behaviours rather than simple demographics.
Detailed segment portraits
Each archetype is profiled using the 5W framework:
- Who they are
- What they buy
- Where they shop
- When they shop
- Why they choose certain products or brands
The value at stake for each segment
Quantifying the commercial importance of different shopper groups.
Competitive performance by segment
Including market share, loyalty, engagement and switching behaviour.
Channel repertoire analysis
Identifying where shoppers see buying opportunities and how they navigate between channels.
Evaluation of in-store execution and activation
Assessing how effectively brands connect with each shopper segment at point of sale.
ShopperView is particularly valuable for strategic planning, portfolio prioritisation and targeted marketing investment.
3. ShopperJourney
ShopperJourney maps the complete path to purchase, capturing how shoppers move from need recognition to repeat buying. FRG structures the shopper journey around six critical behavioural stages:
- Drivers of demand
- Drivers to the store
- Drivers to the category
- Drivers at the point-of-purchase
- Drivers to buy
- Drivers to repeat
To capture this behaviour accurately in real retail environments, ShopperJourney uses multiple data collection components:
- Intercepts on entry and exit
- Capturing expectations before the shop and outcomes after the shop.
- Observation of shopper behaviour
- Shopper traffic counts
This holistic view allows brands to identify friction points, missed opportunities and execution gaps along the journey.
4. ShopperAction
ShopperAction is FRG’s solution for measuring the effectiveness of specific in-store activities, promotions or executions. It is designed to link shopper response directly to commercial outcomes.
The methodology can be applied as a once-off study during a specific promotion or execution or a periodic measurements before, during and after a campaign.
In-store stimuli are evaluated using a response funnel:
- Noticed
- Interested
- Evaluated
- Bought
Results are measured in terms of:
- Recall and influence on the buying decision
- Sales lift and return on investment (ROI), using client sales data where available
ShopperAction provides clear evidence of what is driving results, and what is not, allowing marketing and sales teams to optimise future investment with confidence.
From Insight to Execution
Each of FRG’s shopper research solutions can stand alone, but their real strength lies in how they work together, from tracking trends, to deep segmentation, to journey mapping, and finally to execution measurement.
For more information contact Jack De Wet, Divisional Manager, on +27 (0)86 999 0407 or mobile +27 (0)78 422 9479 or email jack.dewet@frontlineresearchgroup.com
