The Hindu Business Line : How to cash in on customer impulse in jus' 15 seconds

FOOD retail outlets should position impulse products at the entrance as a customer is making impulse buying decisions in the first 15 seconds of entering a supermarket or a retail outlet, a study has revealed.

A consumer behaviour research carried out by Mr Susil Dungarwal, Customer Care Executive and CEO, Lakewood Malls Pvt Ltd, has revealed that a customer is at her/his `impulsive best' when he enters the retail outlet or the supermarket. "The customer purchases the most at this time," Mr Dungarwal said. His study of consumer behaviour is based on the recordings of the closed circuit television camera installed at Lakewood Malls Pvt Ltd's supermarket, Haiko, in Mumbai.

According to Mr Dungarwal, the idea of a research on consumer behaviour based on closed circuit television camera was hit upon quite by chance while going through the recordings. "While going through the recordings I found that the customer was looking at the price before buying," he said.

Mr Dungarwal carried out his first research a year and followed it up periodically in a bid to understand changing consumer behaviour in a supermarket.

He believes that supermarkets can optimise sales by right placement of products. As a customer starts with impulse buying soon after entry, supermarkets could optimise sales by placing impulse products including chocolates and biscuits.

In the placing of products, the shelves higher than 4.5 feet are inconvenient for customers to physically reach out to the products. "Consumers tend to reach for products placed at eye level. Therefore, it makes sense to place combo packs or larger packets as a value for money proposition, both for the customer as well as the retailer," he said.

Big packets should be kept at eye level and smaller packets at a lower level. "This is because, people will first pick up products at eye level as against bending down and picking up a product," he said.

His study also revealed that the placement of goods should follow the progress of the day starting with products that are used in the morning, followed by breakfast items, morning health foods, toiletries, foodgrains, pulses and utility items ending with the gifting section.

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