Supermarket customers 'waste 60% of their time in store', says study

EVEN though many of us think of ourselves as 'express shoppers' who nip into and out of supermarkets in a flash, grabbing what's on our list and getting out as fast as we can, recent research has shown we are less efficient than we believe: For every 20 minutes we spend in store, 12 of these are wasted pottering around aimlessly.

A joint study by Madrid's Complutense University and beer manufacturer Campofrío, titled 'Cathedra ShopperLab', says that even in local supermarkets which customers know the layout of as well as that of their own homes, where they are familiar with exactly where everything they need is located, they still spend 60% of their time browsing – and, typically, not buying any of the items these six minutes in every 10 are used up looking at.

The study was commissioned as market research, to find out what consumers notice, how they react to 'changes of scenery' – such as different colours, new labels, 'special offer' signs, and so on – in order to optimise positioning and, therefore, purchase.

Which aisle, shelf, colour, shape, and even the piped music played in store are no accident, and are aimed at drawing customers' attention to where marketing experts want it to be – and, according to the 'Cathedra ShopperLab' project, around 40% of what is directly at eye-level and in horizontal line goes unnoticed.

When viewing ranges of products, customers' eyes move in a zig-zag pattern, the research shows, which explains why they do not always spot exactly what they are looking for at first glance.

The average supermarket customer takes 25 seconds to choose a product when it is one they do not buy routinely on every visit, says the study.

This means practically nobody reads product labels – checking out the list of ingredients, the origin of the product or its components, or other detailed information is a routine most people have not made into a habit whilst grocery shopping.

As a result, if any of this information is to be a unique selling point, or USP, the manufacturers and package designers need to ensure it stands out clearly.

Newcomers to Spain may have noticed that the irritating practice of moving product ranges around to different locations, making them impossible to find, is less common or, at least, happens less frequently; indeed, with the pandemic, it makes sense not to do so, as this tends to lead to more customers wandering about in a directionless fashion, spreading around all over the store, and spending much longer on the premises without actually parting with more cash or picking up more products – none of which is conducive to social distancing or to profits, since a high and swift turnover of customers brings in more money than having fewer clients who are in the building for longer.

Additionally, although supermarkets in Spain do differ in variety and price, the gulf is not so huge as in other countries, such as the UK where a definite hierarchy of stores means a person's income and even social class can be inferred by their supermarket carrier bags.

Another aspect of grocery shopping in Spain, compared with many other European nations, is that own-branded produce is much more ubiquitous and abundant, although this varies from store to store with some selling almost entirely their own labels and others only around a third to a half.

Given that own-branded goods are typically almost as high-quality, or even equally so, as branded goods, consumers may even buy these because they prefer them rather than merely to save money.

This said, supermarket own-branded items worldwide are often made by the same manufacturers and according to broadly the same processes and ingredients as those of well-known labels.