• by Erik Sass , August 16, 2007

Ever feel eyes roving over you in the grocery store, following your every movement with creepily rapt attention? Don't worry, it's probably just the people from Nielsen Customized Research. They study the way people carry themselves in grocery stores to determine how this body language relates to purchase decisions across 30 food categories.

Manjima Khandelwal, senior vice president, Nielsen Customized Research, says the key to reaching shoppers is understanding that shoppers' habits can be disrupted by external stimuli such as advertising, buzz, new offers, price and promotions. Marketers can leverage this brief window of opportunity to trigger change by understanding which hot buttons to push.

In the preliminary results, announced Wednesday, Nielsen identifies four distinct "shopping modes": auto-pilot, variety-seeking, buzz, and bargain hunting.

Auto-pilot is the stereotypic "in a hurry" approach to grocery shopping, with shoppers grabbing products they know off the shelves and heading to checkout. Products typically purchased in auto-pilot mode include products like coffee, cereal, cheese, margarine and mayonnaise. While this shopping behavior is almost unconscious, that doesn't mean it's not precise. Shoppers can quickly locate a specific brand and product variety--for example, coffee with a particular flavor and caffeine quantity.

Variety-seeking, as its name implies, involves a search for new products. Certain product categories were more likely to inspire variety-seeking by fickle consumers, according to Nielsen. These categories include the frozen food and cold cereal aisles, biscuits, salad dressings and chewing gum.

The buzz behavior is activated by eye-catching advertising, packaging, and displays that promote new products or put a new spin on old ones. Categories that have the most success here are energy and sports drinks and chocolate, as well as ready-to-drink teas and yogurt drinks.

Finally, bargain hunting is a slower, more deliberate process--involving multiple comparisons within categories. While consumers may be receptive to advertising and special promotions, Khandelwal said it depends on the brand and product involved.