Shopping Takes Only Seconds…in-store and online

  • REPORT 67
  • Zachary Anesbury, Magda Nenycz-Thiel, Rachel Kennedy and John Dawes

Abstract

We investigate an aspect of supermarket shopping that is important for retailers and brand managers – how quickly people choose a brand from all those on offer. We analyse the live recordings of 930 online product purchases, and compare them to 2,422 in-store product purchases (in the US, Australia and Singapore). We show that brand selection is typically very quick, both online and in-store. Brand location and visual distinctiveness are important for noticing, recognition and choice.

Key Findings

Supermarket shoppers are fast in-store, most choices take less than 10 seconds. Online supermarket purchases are also quick (most within 15 seconds). Surprisingly quick given our subjects were all new to online grocery shopping. Their choices got quicker with experience with the website.

Therefore offline and online shoppers behave similarly in respect to speed. The explanation presumably lies in the fact that buyers have already established loyalties and therefore have little need for evaluation when shopping these categories online (or in-store).

WHY SHOPPING SPEED MATTERS

Grocery brand managers should know how shoppers behave in supermarkets – be they bricks and mortar or online stores. One key aspect of shopper behaviour is simply speed – how quickly do consumers buy? The amount of time spent selecting a brand has serious implications for manufacturer’s and retailer’s strategies. If shoppers choose and buy very quickly, they are acting on habit and using brands as a cue. In such a situation brand elements including colours, logos and characters on packs are critical for the brand to be seen and bought. Manufacturers who manage these better will win in store.

A lot is known about shopper behaviour in physical stores in the grocery market context. Not much is known about online shopper behaviour. We summarize knowledge about physical store shopper browsing and selection times, and then report a study showing online behaviour for grocery products features the same quick selection behaviour.

PURCHASE TIMES INSIDE PHYSICAL (BRICKS & MORTAR) STORES

Seven different studies have examined in- store brand selection times in grocery categories. The average across all the studies is 13 seconds (Table 1). For an in- store observational study, the amount of time taken to make a purchase is measured from when the customer approached or turned their attention towards the relevant product category. A few shoppers taking a long time skew the distribution of selection time – most shoppers make their purchase in less than 10 seconds (Table 2).

Table 1: In-store product selection times

CountryMethodCategories#Avg. Secs
Cobb and Hoyer (1985)USOBS & INTCoffee52117
Chandon et al. (2009)USEXPAnalgesics & Soap34416
Leong (1993)SNGOBSShampoo20014
Hoyer (1984)USOBSLaundry Det.12013
Cobb and Hoyer (1985)USOBS & INTToilet Tissue52112
Dickson and Sawyer (1990)USOBSToothpaste, Margarine,
Cereal & Coffee		80212
Leong (1993)SNGOBSLaundry Det.20012
Macdonald and Sharp (2000)AUSEXPOrange Cordial46210
Le Boutillier et al. (1994)USOBSCoffee & Soda2359
Average288413

Table 2: In-store product selection time proportions

#Sec% <= 5 sec% <= 10 sec% >= 15 sec
Hoyer (1984)12013-0.86-
Dickson and
Sawyer (1990)		802120.42-0.25
Le Boutillier
et al. (1994)		23590.49-0.15
Average1157110.46-0.2

ONLINE PURCHASE TIMES

Is online grocery shopping just as quick? This is an important question. Online retail, while from a small base, is growing rapidly (Rose and Samouel 2009; Wood 2011). In the United Kingdom in 2013 online retail sales reached £31 billion per year (Rigby 2013), in the United States, the figure is US$155 billion annually during 2010 (Arce-Urriza et al. 2010) and AU $19-24 billion annually in Australia during 2009 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012).

We documented the online grocery navigation and selection behaviours of 40 consumers across a range of categories and two varied online stores. Shoppers participated in an experiment whereby they were given a shopping list of 12 commonly bought items to buy. Via screen recording, we documented the way in which each shopper interacted with the online stores of two major Australian supermarkets. We measured purchase time from when the first correct category page was located and loaded on the shopper’s web browser. This is the online equivalent of when the customer approached or turned their attention towards the relevant product category.

Across the two sites, twelve product categories and 930 purchases, the mean average purchase time for a brand was 19 seconds. The mean is skewed by some outliers, half of purchases happened within 13 seconds, and 75% occurred within 24 seconds. The average times for each category varied, in a range from 14 to 29 seconds. (Table 3).

We also found that our novice shoppers got quicker as they went along (average drop from 33 to 15 seconds from start to finish). This suggests that experienced online supermarket shoppers will buy brands even faster than shown here.

Table 3: Average selection times for all shoppers and each category

Average
seconds		75% of purchases
<= x seconds
Shampoo2839
Toothpaste2436
Chocolate Bars2026
Wet Cat Food1923
Wet Dog Food1722
Dry Dog Food1719
Micro. Rice1622
Pasta Sauce1620
Yoghurt1620
Dry Cat Food1519
Milk1518
Bananas1418
Average1824

Table 4: Online product selection time proportions

#Ave. secs% <= 5 sec% <= 10 sec% >= 15 sec
Online (this
study) 		873180.130.40.39

We now examine the distribution of shopper times. Additional analyses shows that seven in ten purchases take less than 18-seconds (Figure 1). These results confirm that shoppers behave habitually, do not spend undue time thinking about purchases; and use established memory structures to make their shopping faster.

Shoppers display the same quick behaviour when in-store and online.

Figure 1: Time taken to purchase a brand online

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 9.58.30 AM

SUMMARY & IMPLICATIONS

Overall shoppers spend little time searching and purchasing a product in the context of grocery purchasing. This aspect of behaviour has been known about for physical stores, and we have now documented it for online shopping as well. Selection time is quick.

For Retailers

Retailers need to consider that shoppers want to see their favourite brands quickly. Shoppers will receive anything that a retailer can do to make navigation and brand selection easy favourably; while making search more difficult will be detrimental to repeat-purchasing from the online store. Knowing about how consumers expect to see products and brands arranged in a category is vital.

For Brand Managers

Shoppers do not appear to wish to hunt for their brand. Also, we know consumers are polygamously loyal – so if they see one of the brands they know and use, that will likely be bought. Therefore, mass-reach advertising to nudge the brand in consumer memory still has a place in the online shopping world. In addition, brand managers need to make it as easy as possible for shoppers to find their brand online. Consistency in distinctive brand elements (colours, fonts, characters) will help shoppers find the brands they are loyal towards. Pack changes that impair quick brand recognition should be avoided.

Overall this review of previous in-store studies and the experimental online situation shows great similarity between offline and online grocery buyers. Buyers in-store already massively restrict their choice down to a few options, and offline buyers appear to do the same, taking little time to purchase.

REFERENCE LIST

Arce-Urriza, M., Chu, J., Cebollada-Calvo, J.-J. and Chintagunta, P. 2010. An empirical analysis of shopping behavior across online and offline channels for grocery products: The moderating effects of household and product characteristics. Journal of Interactive Marketing 24: 251-68.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2012. Australian social trends, jun 2011: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Chandon, P., Hutchinson, J. W., Bradlow, E. T. and Young, S. H. 2009. Does in-store marketing work? Effects of the number and position of shelf facings on brand attention and evaluation at the point of purchase. Journal of Marketing 73, no. 6: 1-17.

Cobb, C. J. and Hoyer, W. D. 1985. Direct observation of search behaviour in the purchase of two nondurable products. Psychology & Marketing 2, no. 3: 161-79.

Dickson, P. R. and Sawyer, A. G. 1990. The price knowledge and search of supermarket shoppers. The Journal of Marketing 54, no. 3: 42-53.

Hoyer, W. D. 1984. An examination of consumer decision making for a common repeat purchase product. Journal of Consumer Research 11, no. 3: 822-9.

Le Boutillier, J., Le Boutillier, S. S. and Neslin, S. A. 1994. A replication and extension of the dickson and sawyer price-awareness study. Marketing Letters 5, no. 1: 31-42.

Leong, S. M. 1993. Consumer decision making for common, repeat-purchase products: A dual replication. Journal of Consumer Psychology 2, no. 2: 193-208.

Macdonald, E. and Sharp, B. 2000. Brand awareness effects on consumer decision making for a common, repeat purchase product: A replication. Journal of Business Research 48, no. Number 1, April: 5-15.

Rigby, C. 2013. Online retail sales grew by 10.7% in july: Ons. In Internet Retailing. online: SJP Business Media.

Rose, S. and Samouel, P. 2009. Internal psychological versus external market-driven determinants of the amount of consumer information search amongst online shoppers. Journal of Marketing management 25, no. 1-2: 171-90.

Wood, A. 2011. Multichannel shopping: Crossing the channels. In AdMap. Online: Warc.

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