Shopping psychology studies how retail environments and other factors influence purchasing behavior. One of its guiding principles is "humans share certain physical and physiological abilities, tendencies, limitations, and needs... retail environments must adapt to these behavioral parameters."
-01- People Need to Slow Down
When Grandpa Jiang finishes an 800-meter run, panting, he needs to stop and catch his breath. He needs to transition his body from a 5-mile-per-hour exercise state to a calm resting state. He needs his vision to shift from dynamic afterimages to static high-definition clarity. Sometimes, he even needs a teammate to gently pat him and say, "Come on, let's go buy water!" Only then does his run truly end.
Now, slow that run down, slower and slower.
When a consumer walks into a store, this "slow down" phenomenon also occurs. The consumer's body may be inside the store, but their mind is still in the previous state.
1. Consumers Often in "Buffer" Mode
When we enter a shopping mall, we often see luxury goods stores and jewelry stores at the entrance. Would anyone walk in and immediately want to buy jewelry?
When we enter a fast-food restaurant, we typically walk past a few rows of seats or a short distance before reaching the ordering counter. Isn't it supposed to be as fast as possible?
When we enter a high-street clothing store, the first thing we see is a table of discounted items. Aren't they afraid that low prices will damage their image?
These are all "buffer zones" left by merchants for consumers. Common buffer methods include providing obstacles (placing discounted items), offering services (greeters), using strong brands to divert attention (high-end jewelry brands), and setting buffer distances (walking a short distance before ordering).
The purpose of setting up buffer zones is to reduce the time consumers spend "slowing down" and help them enter the shopping state as quickly as possible. In a supermarket, consumers keep moving. If a consumer is still "slowing down" when passing a stall, that stall is no different from a passerby.
2. Hema's Approach
Grandpa Jiang visited a Hema store that used the following methods for buffering. First, Hema is located in a sunken plaza, so consumers must enter via escalator, which naturally provides a physical cooling-off period. Second, they offer services. They have dedicated staff at the entrance asking if customers need a shopping basket. On the surface, it's a service; in reality, it's a reminder: "You're here to shop! Wake up!"
-02- People Have Shopping Scenarios
In supermarkets, the common display method is by product category. Coffee with coffee, tea with tea, clear and organized. But under this general principle, there are also some unusual pairings.
For example, the famous "beer and diapers" pairing that made Walmart famous. Walmart analyzed consumer purchase receipts and found that diapers and beer were often bought together. After research, they learned that this was typically because dads would reward themselves with a few beers after buying diapers. Walmart then placed the two together, and sales for both categories increased significantly.
We always say that business revolves around people, not products. Where in a supermarket can you see "revolving around people"? On the shelves. Merchants create "consumer scenarios" by combining products on shelves. By observing Hema's shelves, we can guess "who is buying in what scenario."
Next to the spirits shelf, there are men's razors. Buying spirits not only indicates interest in alcohol but also suggests the buyer is male or buying for a male.
After a week of hard work, office workers finally have a night worth relaxing. Forget health regimens; now they need a cold ice cream. Such a moment also pairs well with cold beer.
The head of the household, when buying rice, flour, and oil, might also pick up a toy for the little one.
For single people living alone, the only time they need to cook is to boil instant noodles. Their kitchen only needs two functions: making noodles and washing dishes.
Life is fast-paced; you want to show off your cooking skills but fear the hassle. No worries! Semi-finished ingredients can quickly complete the cooking task while retaining the fun and sense of accomplishment. Besides semi-finished ingredients, what else can be semi-finished? Flavor semi-finished products—compound seasoning sauces.
These are the shopping scenarios in Hema. In a regular supermarket, the above items would be placed on different shelves. By combining products, Hema constructs the concept of "people."
People don't just buy; they buy with a shopping scenario. If you meet the need for a product, you sell one item. If you capture the shopping scenario, you sell N items.
One more thing: This is an era that rejects labeling. But due to "space constraints," offline supermarkets cannot achieve one-to-one personalization; they can only choose "partial scenarios" to display. Where there is choice, there is discrimination. Would a woman buying spirits feel disrespected seeing razors? Would a single person buying rice, flour, and oil feel pressured to marry again when seeing children's toys? Let's leave this debate to "U Can U Bibi."
-03- People Need to Open Their Wallets First
In 7-Eleven convenience stores, the food category to some extent drives sales growth in other categories. The top 3 target items for customers are in-store prepared food, milk, and beverages. These are the drivers that bring consumers into the store. But it doesn't stop there; consumers also buy many items they didn't plan to buy before entering, such as snacks.
Once a customer pays, the relationship between customer and merchant changes qualitatively. Going from no relationship to a relationship is a qualitative change. Going from a relationship to a strong relationship is only a quantitative change.
To maximize sales, 7-Eleven stores typically place yogurt, milk, and prepared food in relatively inner positions, forcing customers to walk to the back of the store.
Hema does the same. They use fresh food and dining as traffic drivers to get consumers to open their wallets, then encourage them to buy more other items. In Hema, fresh food and groceries are also usually placed at the very back.
-04- People Always Move Forward and Look Ahead
People always move forward and look ahead. This "behavioral parameter" seems like common sense, but it is often overlooked and not properly utilized.
1. Moving Forward
Hema stores can be divided into two rings—the shallow ring and the deep ring (similar to Beijing's Third Ring and Fifth Ring). The deep ring leads to fresh food and dining. The shallow ring sells categories similar to regular convenience stores.
Whether coming from the deep or shallow ring, as long as people move forward, they will pass through an intersection. This is where foot traffic is highest. It's the ad one minute before the news broadcast, the mid-roll ad during a TV drama finale.
In the Hema store Grandpa Jiang visited, this intersection carries the heaviest service design, using services to intercept consumers and drive conversion. At the intersection, there are staff promoting fresh milk from the "Everyday Fresh" line, a display of Nestlé Sakura coffee, a discount zone promotion, and introductions to private-label brands. Elsewhere in Hema, shopping is undisturbed; staff are busy sorting and stocking. But at the intersection, there are many staff and it's very noisy. In a daze, I found a box of 14-yuan yogurt and a bag of 12-yuan bread in my cart.
2. Turning Right
"We studied a department store where the men's clothing section was to the right of the entrance. According to our statistics, the vast majority of customers were women. Placing men's clothing on the right meant that female shoppers would quickly pass through the men's section without looking at the merchandise, heading straight for their main destination—the women's section.
In fact, because the front door was in the middle of the store rather than off to one side, many of the routes our trackers drew for women looked like this: enter, turn right, browse, realize they were in the men's section, immediately turn around and head straight for the women's section on the left, never returning to the right side, not even to the children's clothing in the back right—adapted from Why We Buy.
Most people turn right. The Hema store Grandpa Jiang visited basically assumes consumers will turn right, giving them no option to turn left. After entering, the left side has checkout counters with lines, and the right side has a fruit discount area; most people head right.
Okay, even if you still want to turn left, slowly turn 30 degrees to the left—wow, a huge durian display.
3. Looking Ahead
Hema's shelf height has always been a promotional focus. Traditional large supermarkets have very tall shelves. But Hema controls shelf height within the optimal line of sight, removing useless tall shelves.
In addition to the fan-shaped area directly in front, consumers also have an optimal line of sight—the content 2-3 meters ahead that requires a slight upward glance. A good retail environment must ensure both the optimal view directly ahead and fully utilize the time consumers look up.
For this "look-up" time, Hema's shallow and deep rings have different promotional strategies. In the deep ring, focused on fresh food and dining, the overhead ads promote Hema Workshop's "crayfish" (Hema's inner thought: Since you're buying fresh food, why not try my signature dish?). In the shallow ring, focused on retail merchandise, the overhead ads promote "APP delivery to home" (Hema's inner thought: Even if you're in the store, there's no need to buy non-fresh items on the spot).
-05- Summary
Common consumer behavioral parameters include: people need to slow down, people have shopping scenarios, people need to open their wallets first, and people always move forward and look ahead.
In Hema supermarkets, we can see strategies designed to adapt to these consumer behavioral parameters.
Source: Grandpa Jiang (ID: grandpa_jiang), Author: Grandpa Jiang
Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan upon adoption.