Process
Book
How to improve the shopping experience for Millennials. CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH
Industrial Design | Samuel Regan
Table of Contents
01.
Research Objective and Question
02.
Observations
03.
Interviews
04.
Survey
05.
Cultural Probes
06.
Observation to Insight
07.
Survey
08.
Cultural Probes
09.
Observation to Insight
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
How to improve the shopping experience for Millennials.
People have needs, and to satisfy them, they head to the shops. Millennials especially, are the largest consumers in the United States of America. As a group, we decided to conduct an extensive research on the shopping experience for millennials. First we should consider shopping experience in its entirety. With the rise of new technologies, there are a lot of new touch points allowing shoppers to hear about a brand and be directed to a store. Whether it’s a TV commercial, an online ad on a search engine or a Facebook post, these are key points to the shopping experience. The consumer is searching for a product or a service and might be interested in the sales, offers, and content displayed in the multitude of advertisements consumers see on a daily basis which raise its interest for your offer. And from here it’s not only the commencement of the shopping experience, as well as the shopping journey. From a social media ad post to the visit in store, interactions between the consumers and the stores are incrementing and shops need to figure out how to attract consumers’s attention on these different touch points.
OBSERVATIONS
How to improve the shopping experience for Millennials. I individually will concentrate on the topic of People, and how consumers behave in in-store shopping. I have conducted several experiments of naturalistic and participant observation of where, when, and how millennials shop.
One observation study I conducted was analyzing the different characteristics that classify consumers. As our study persists in observing the shopping experience of millennials, I, the researcher, visited some of the most commonly shopped at stores by our target audience. The research resulted into Urban Outfitters, H&M, Forever21, and Apple. After visiting each store, located in Savannah, Georgia, I was able to classify in-store consumers into five distinct categories. Each type of shopper has a different behavior and each consumer profile was created based on consumer analysis made in-store.
The first type of consumer consists of people who walk in a store, knowing what they 01.
are buying, who simply pick up a product, and head to the cashier in order to purchase it. These types of buyers are decisive, they have a purpose for their purchase, and they are usually in and out of a store.
Observation 1:
The 5 Types of Shoppers
02.
The second type of shopper consists of millennials who will spend a long time in a store, observing, touching, and analyzing each product in depth. These shoppers will spend time trying clothes on, looking at themselves in mirrors, on their phones, texting, and sending pictures to their friends or special someone.
03.
Then, the third type of shopper is the last-minute consumer. This type of consumer will usually wait till the last minute to do their shopping, and run frantically around the store to find what they are looking for. This type of consumer is a fast shopper, usually on the run.
04.
The fourth type of shopper is usually shops under sale season, and they will buy an excessive amount of clothes, motivated by the sale, used as a marketing strategy. When stores have sales, millennials will try to purchase at least one product, to feel satisfied by the bargain they believe they found.
05.
And finally, the fifth type of consumer type, is the social shopper. This type of consumer behavior is often seen shopping around friends or in groups. Often, impulsive buys are made as millennials are influenced by the presence of their friends.
01.
Feeling is the first and most common answer to why and how millennials choose products. Millennials say they want be associated to a brand, and only make purchases that reflect their style, thus making them feel good.
Observation 2:
Why millennials shop in-store
02.
As a secondary contributor to how millennials make their shopping decisions is Budget. Millennials make most of their shopping decisions based their budget. Millennials with higher budgets will have higher expenditure habits, and they will find themselves spending more each month, from higher-end stores.
As a secondary observation study, I have spoken to a few consumers inside my target audience in order to understand our consumers,
03.
With fast-fashion and hundreds of new clothes and styles out every day,
I wanted to understand their reasoning behind
millennials also said they base their shopping habits based on the style of the
purchases and how they affected them. I have
product, including quality, color, fit, and uniqueness. It is important to millennials
asked the same question to multiple millennials
to express their personality and be unique. Every millennial is buying something
inside of stores, and I have found that feeling,
different that relates to their personal image and experience. With the thousands
experience, style, and influences from friends
of different styles out there, it is important for brands to offer a variety of different
are key determining factors for their purchases.
product styles to satisfy everyone’s, especially picky millennials, needs.
WOMEN
Observation 3:
Men vs.Women Shopping Habits As a third observatory study, in order to better understand our consumers, I wanted to observe the differences in behavior in shopping habits between men and women.
Women have a clearer affiliation for the common notion of shopping. Such as walking at a calm pace through store fronts, analyzing all the different products and merchandise, comparing and contrasting qualities of each product and its values, interacting with other shoppers and sales persons in stores, asking questions, trying on several products and eventually making a purchase. The majority of purchases are usually attributed to women, and they usually do it with pleasure — even just when shopping for groceries or everyday things. Women are often proud of their ability to shop.
MEN
On the other hand, men are much more rapid in their shopping experience. While in the stores, I observed at which pace men moved compared to women, and in most cases, men will spend much less time in stores. Men spend less time looking and choosing the product. In many settings it’s hard to get them to look at anything they hadn’t intended to buy. Men rarely ask questions while shopping. Unless they are looking for a specific product or have a sizing need, they will rarely ask questions. If a man can’t find the section he’s looking for, he’ll keep searching, then abandon his mission and leave without ever asking for any help. Additionally, men tend to avoid using fitting rooms as much as women do, as they rarely want to try on something unless they are almost certain of buying it.
Interviews My research wanted to gather a deeper understanding of millennials, the reasons why they shop, what motivates them to shop, and how they believe the shopping experience could be improved. This information will remain helpful to anyone who is trying to create a greater understanding of both the target audience, as well as the shopping experience and the product industry. Thus why I studied five different individuals, who could provide great insight from different points of view. I will carefully analyze all the interviews, and then explain how each interviewee provided great information for the research.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
01.
How often do you shop?
02.
When do you shop?
03.
What do you spend most of your money on?
04.
Restaurants or Coffee Shops?
05.
Is there a particular need you need to fulfill when going shopping?
06.
Shop alone or with friends?
07.
How do you think in-store experience can be improved?
Interview Findings & Useful Insights
CONSUMER INSIGHTS 01.
Millennials have been found to spend an average
SALES ASSOCIATES INSIGHTS 02.
Millenials have access to internet almost 90% of
01.
Interviewing a millennial sales associate from
of $4 per coffee. This statistic, when accosted to
the time. They have access to information on the
Tommy Hilfiger, I wanted to collect information on
the response of the subject, shows how millennials
internet through personal computers, laptops,
why in-store customers would approach her, the
have built a habit to buy coffee outside of home,
tablets, and smartphones. They use this tool to
sales associate. Among the most common reasons
and overpaying for it, often to obtain the pleasing
access and educate themselves about products and
were sizing, location, and price of products. Most
experience of eating out, often referred to as the
services, as well as compare prices between brands,
clients would approach the sales associate to have
“millennial experience”.
before deciding on who or where to buy from.
assistance with a size, thus meaning either a) the client needs a size that is not displayed, b) the client is not able to find the size of a specific product, thus
03.
One subject said she prefers to shop with friends,
04.
needs assistance c) the customer needs a size the
One of the interviewees said she would like to see
as they can provide helpful insight on the purchase
retail stores study and spend additional time on their
in-store. However, it is also shown that millennials
product placement and display, so it is an easier
who shop together, will most likely be pressured into
and faster experience for the customer to see all
making a purchase, even when not initially intended
the various different products, eliminating the action
to. This act is referred to as impulsive buying, which
of touching, and moving, and messing up the order
is very common among our target audience.
of all the products, stacked upon each other.
retail store does not carry.
01.
The sales associate said “the customer will be more likely to make a purchase, if he/she is the one to initiate conversation and seek for assistance. If the assistance is effective and helpful, the client will be more inclined into making the purchase”. She then
05. Thanks to the new technologies allowing consumers to not only purchase in-store, but to be able to
06. The interviews show that consumers make two-thirds of their brand decisions in the store.
purchase almost anything with just a few presses
And younger generations of buyers are not as
on their mobile screens, it is found that 9 out of 10
brand-loyal as their parents and grandparents. So,
millennials have made an impulsive purchase in the
the importance of product placement is growing
last month.
rapidly.
continued by saying that on the other hand, if a sales associate is the first one to approach a customer and is persistent, the consumer will feel pressured by the store to purchase, only for their own interest.
Question #1
Survey We then continued to research the subject by creating an online survey, which was then sent to around 100 different individuals within the target audience. I personally obtained 61 responses in regards to People and Behavior, in relation to our main topic: How to improve the millennial shopping experience.
Question #2
Millennials have many channels where they can shop, and it came to no surprise finding that most of the respondents shopped both online as well as in-store.
Question #3
Surprisingly, through the survey we discovered that shopping solo is preferred over shopping with other people. This response may vary based on the audience interviewed, as we have found through our observations, that females are most inclined towards shopping with someone else, whereas males often prefer shopping alone.
Question #4
To understand whether we can utilize social media to the advantage of both the consumers and the businesses, we wanted to understsand how many people shopped in-store while using mobile phones.
Question #5
Question #6
It is important to understand how often millennials shop in-store, so to make sure each time it is a nice shopping experience.
Question #7
After gathering insights from a sales associates in our interview process, we wanted to hear the voice of the consumers, and what their thoughts were in regards to sales associates.
Question #8
Question #9
Cultural Probes For our cultural probes research study, we created a set of activities designed for four different individuals inside our target audience. Each activity had a focus to better understand the tendencies, behaviors, and tastes of millennials when it comes to shopping.
Cultural Probes: Insights In our first activities, we asked our
In the third and fourth activities
audience to rate different shopping
we asked people to place stars
locations based on their preference.
on the styles they liked most. And
We have found that indoor shopping
edgy, modern brands, with strong
centres, and modern locations are
branding, have been found to be
among the top preferred locations for
the most influential.
millennials. In our fifth activity we learned about
In our last two activities we gave
previous bad in-store shopping
freedom of creativity to our audience,
experiences, so to find opportunities
where they created a collection of
on where to improve. Among the top
garments for their fictional store.
problems listed there were long lines,
We found that product quality and
problems with returns, or negative
uniqueness in style were the leading
customer service.
factors for their choices.
Observation to Insight and Insight Sorting
Design Principles
ONLINE
PRODUCT
BRANDS
PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR
PREFERENCES
DISLIKES
Use social media to drive sales
Products need to be neatly organized in order to sell
Include more in-store experiences
Include coffee shops in-store for better shopping experience
Make return process easier and faster
Place products strategically in-store
Educate sales associates to only help customers, not disturb them
Design a store based on men’s vs. women’s different shopping behaviors
Use social media to sell directly Facilitate the in-store shopping experience by replicating the online shopping experience
Display products based on product quality
Design in-store layout to drive customers around the store and increase product visibility
Train sales associates to better shopping experience
Include lounge areas in-store for better shopping experience Include art and music in-store for better shopping experience
Design store to avoid long lines Avoid in-store disorganization
Opportunity Map We have then categorized all the insights and design principles into an opportunity map to visualize all the findings.
Conclusion We have found that millennials love
By understanding the high and
shopping, and after studying their
low points of the millennial
behaviors, habits, and shopping
shopping experience, we now
routines, we now can craft better
have a thorough understanding
solutions for our audience.
of people, and how they shop.