Retailers are constantly competing for consumers’ attention. Since many products and services are comparable and similar on many levels, every company wants consumers to buy their products or services to outperform the competition. What sets a company, brand, product or service apart from the competition? They must effectively sell to their ideal customer, capture their attention and lead to a purchase decision. Since about 70 percent of consumer purchases contribute to activity

Rather than relying on surveys or post-purchase interviews, conducting interviews while people are in the store eliminates the negative effects of delays, such as forgetting, bad memories and misinterpretations. In addition, it ensures that even the smallest and seemingly insignificant moments are captured and used. Most importantly, in-store shopping increases the external validity of research results when behavior is observed in real-world conditions, including other customers, employees, in-store audio systems, aisle layouts and more.

As with all methods, there are drawbacks. It is possible that data can be negatively affected if people feel uncomfortable shopping and talking to an interviewer. They may buy things they wouldn’t otherwise buy, such as buying brand-name items instead of selling products, so they don’t feel less rich or ordinary. An experienced interviewer helps people feel comfortable and reduces some problems. Finally, shopping doesn’t work for short purchases, such as grocery stores or gas stations.

Although people make many purchasing decisions in the days, hours and minutes before a shopping excursion begins, purchasing decisions are easily influenced when people enter a store. Behavior and attitudes can be influenced by employees, aisle and shelf displays, and even other customers.

Participants are generally recruited in two ways. Access panels: Individuals who have previously registered for a survey may be invited to participate based on demographic and/or product information they provide to the panel. Access panels are often preferred when very specific audiences are needed, such as users of competing brands or people with a rare demographic group. The researcher then plans to meet with the selected participants at the chosen location. On-site capture: A research company can recruit people in a specific location, such as a shopping mall or outside a store of interest. This method works well when the target criteria is not rigid and it is important that the participant does not have time to schedule a trip with the researcher.

In a way, these surveys can be categorized as ethnographic, but it is important to remember that they are more oriented to the specifics of the place where they take place. Polish Shop Along is becoming increasingly popular, which manufacturers want to use to improve the products they introduce. That’s why it’s so important to interview people while they’re shopping, to follow consumers and see what’s important to them. The SHOP LONG study helps bring a new quality to the field of market research.

Fieldstat meets your expectations and in our offer we propose a qualitative SHOP ALONG study in Poland.