Truly understand the every factor that influences consumers’ final decision at the moment of purchase.

To make optimal decisions about product selection, retailer and manufacturer partnerships, and marketing, retailers and manufacturers in the technology and consumer durable sectors both need a holistic view of point of sales data and consumer behaviour. Having looked at how our GfK Consumer Journey solution helps brands to understand how consumers research a purchase in my previous post, I shall now turn my attention to the insights it offers into the moment of purchase.

Brands want to know where, how, and why consumers purchase products, so that they can make smart decisions about retailer partnerships, product selection and development, and marketing and promotions. Retailers, meanwhile, need to understand how they are performing in different channels (in-store and digital), as well as which brands and models sell best and why. Manufacturers and retailers alike also want insights into competitor performance and partnerships.

Powered by the GfK Consumer Insights Engine, GfK Consumer Journey offers technology and consumer durables manufacturers a full view of the online and offline consumer purchase journey. This enables them to answer key business questions such as:

Lost shoppers: How many shoppers did we lose during the purchase journey and what is the size of this lost opportunity? Who are these shoppers? Which competitive brands or retailers did we lose out to and why?

Partnership opportunities: Which retail or manufacturer brands should we partner with? Which retailers or brands could offer access to unique customers? Which competitive brands or retailers attract the same consumer profile as we do?

Channel conversion: What are my channel conversion rates? How can I improve them? What role does each channel play in the consumer journey?

As a subscriber to the Consumer Journey module, you can use the Consumer Insights Engine to get instant access to insights that will allow you to answer your key business questions. To provide you the data that leads to trusted and actionable consumer insights, we seamlessly integrate multiple data sources into this advanced analytics platform: global sales data*, consumer research, behavioural data, and AI-enabled review data.

The data visualized below is pulled from a cross-market analysis of the TV category using the Consumer Insights Engine and is used to answer many important questions our clients are asking about the moment of purchase.

(Source: Consumer Insights Engine Consumer Journey, Q1 2018 data for the TV category in multiple markets)

As the data above illustrates, our solution provides a coherent view of – and granular detail about – the consumer’s purchase journey and the factors that influence his or her final purchase decision to equal granularity across participating markets. For a multinational manufacturer operating in multiple markets across Europe it is interesting to know that, when compared to France, a high number of recent TV purchasers in the Netherlands purchased a 4K UHD TV. This data informs the marketing team that messaging around this feature should resonate in this market. When this data is coupled with data identifying that 724,661 TVs were sold in this period in the Netherlands (fig2), it can begin to inform other business units within our clients’ organisations, such as supply chain and logistics. This total market view of units sold is achieved through our calibration with actual point of sales data*.

Fig2. (Source: Consumer Insights Engine Consumer Journey, Q1 2018 data for the TV category in multiple markets)

Taking a look at brand loyalty in the UK is another practical example of the value of insights derived from this data. Understanding how little brand loyalty consumers in the UK have compared to other major markets might prompt a manufacturer to focus its efforts on new customer acquisition rather than retention in this market.

Our solution covers 13 major markets – France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK, US, Brazil, Russia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Thus, multinational brands can not only get insights into national markets, but also compare brand performance and consumer behaviour across multiple territories.

Check out our online Consumer Insights Engine demo to understand more about how it works against specific business questions. Find out how to get actionable business insights at speed that go beyond point of sale data and help you get inside the mind of your consumers.

Note: *In the US, GfK does not have access to Point of Sale data. US data is calibrated using information gathered from a telephone survey based on probability-based sample representative of both mobile phones and landlines. No retailer data is used in the development of the US offering.

Discover more consumer journey insights from the rest of our ‘Beyond Point of Sales Data’ blog series:

Beyond Point of Sale Data: Which consumer needs trigger the start of the purchase cycle?

Beyond Point of Sale Data: Search and evaluation in the consumer journey

Beyond Point of Sale Data: The importance of understanding early usage in the consumer journey