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   0203 475 2312
 * 
 * WHAT WE DO
 * SOME OF OUR WORK
 * ABOUT INK
 * THE TEAM
 * CONTACT US

Ink Research

Shopper and NPD insight for the real world

CONTACT US NOW


OUR SERVICES

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Whether you are looking for simple idea prioritisation, concept optimisation or
full volume modelling, the Ink NPD model gives you everything you need.

Measure: Our unique shelf-led system provides proven accuracy for product and
concept potential measurement, including year 1 volume and value modelling,
price sensitivity and portfolio cannibalisation.

Diagnose: Our range of diagnostic tools get under the skin of shoppers’ purchase
drivers and barriers, identifying weak points to address and strengths to drive
launch comms.

Optimise: The Ink team of insight specialists will help guide your development
process, highlighting the critical issues to be addressed and showing what
elements will drive sales in launch comms.

SHOPPER & CATEGORY RESEARCH

Looking to understand or grow a category, segment your shoppers or understand at
shelf decisions? We know that shoppers’ purchase decisions are a complex mix of
unconscious cues, heuristics, rational thinking and value perceptions. At Ink,
our shopper research goes beyond rationalised questionnaire responses to get a
deep understanding of the way customers make decisions are made – and most
critically, why. Focusing on specific, recent purchase occasions, we put
shoppers into a buying mindset, before leading them through and understanding
their decision processes. Our innovative techniques are designed to give you
robust insight for commercial decision making, while squeezing the most out of
your research budget.

BRAND AND COMMS TRACKING

Our brand and comms tracking offering goes beyond basic level understanding and
generalised, flat KPI reporting. The Ink philosophy of bespoke design and
built-in flexibility, backed up by rigorous commitment to research fundamentals,
ensures that trackers remain fresh and interesting even years into the future.
We apply innovative analytical tools, such as control charting, to identify
changes even when traditional wave on wave figure comparison lacks the
sensitivity to do so.
Your brand and objectives are unique – make sure you choose tracking that can
support your planning and stay relevant and sensitive for years to come.


OUR WORK

THE INK NPD MODEL

WHY RANGE AND PRICE OPTIMISATION SO FREQUENTLY GETS IT WRONG

WHEN CONSUMERS CAN’T TELL THE TRUTH: CREATING REAL INSIGHT USING FLAWED
RESPONSES

IS HALF YOUR INSTORE MARKETING BUDGET WASTED?

HOW CONTROL CHARTING CAN REINVIGORATE YOUR BRAND TRACKING

MEASURING THE IMPACT OF COVID ON SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR

PLASTIC FREE PACKAGING CONJOINT

CASE STUDY: CATEGORY GROWTH DEEP DIVE

CONCEPT TESTING FOR BUSINESS FORECASTING

THE FRAGMENTED WELLNESS MARKET (AND HOW WE OVERSTATE ITS VALUE IN OUR LIVES)

OPTIMISING YOUR BRAND TRACKING – THE KEY PITFALLS TO AVOID


CONTACT US NOW


ABOUT INK

 * At Ink we understand the complexities of consumer decision making and
   behaviour and the way we go about our research reflects this: we believe in
   challenging the way research is done, re-evaluating research in the light of
   emerging knowledge about decision making processes.

 * We focus on matching our research to the way decisions are made in the real
   world: a mix of conscious and unconscious, impulse and list driven. We
   understand the power of the shelf in purchase decisions and measure
   accordingly. We have a healthy distrust of human memory and get that shoppers
   often can’t or won’t tell us why they are making certain decisions – so we
   use a range of implicit and modelled techniques to give us insight into real
   world choices.

 * We translate our research into concise, business-focused and above all,
   actionable insight. We pride ourselves on delivering tailored results in a
   format that’s just right for our clients’ key stakeholders. We know you need
   to demonstrate the ROI of your research – and that’s what we aim to do on
   every project.

 * Research quality is fundamental to our offer. Our research is conducted with
   a deep understanding of the fundamentals of market research, developed over
   25 years of industry experience: we work with only high quality sample
   providers, design concise questionnaires which elicit the most revealing
   insight and use sophisticated analysis techniques to get under the skin of
   the data. In short, we concentrate on the quality of the insight so that our
   clients can work on implementing it.

 * 
   CONTACT US


THE TEAM

BARRY NOBLE

Managing Director

Barry began his research career over 25 years ago with TNS and made his way
through IPSOS and NFO before founding Ink with Xede in 2015. Over that time he
has developed NPD, shopper and campaign effectiveness insight programmes for
some of the biggest FMCG, Retail and Media names, UK and internationally.
 * 
 * 
 * 

PRAXEDIS PAGE

Director

Having gained an MSc in Sociology (Research) from the London School of
Economics, Xede has over 10 years’ experience of FMCG and media research for
blue chip clients. She has been responsible for the build of several bespoke
research programmes and has set up and implemented a range of panels and
communities.
 * 
 * 
 * 

CASPAR SWANSTON

Associate Director

During over a decade of research, Caspar has developed a keen interest in
solving problems and queries through data. As well as championing Ink’s Path to
Purchase and Campaign research, Caspar has been responsible for delivering
insightful reports and presentations to a wide range of clients in a variety of
industries.
 * 
 * 
 * 

JODIE PURVIS

Research Manager

Having graduated with a first class Psychology BSc from King’s College London,
Jodie brings her keen interest in human behaviour to the research role, working
across different sectors and clients to uncover what drives purchase decisions
and product choice.
 * 
 * 
 * 

RHIARNA HARRIS

Research Executive

Having graduated from the University of Queensland with a first class Honours in
Psychology, Rhiarna is passionate about understanding consumer behaviour through
research. She works with the wider team to uncover opportunities for clients.
 * 
 * 
 * 

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OPTIMISING YOUR PORTFOLIO FOR NEW PRODUCTS


So you’ve identified where you are going next with your NPD – you have a great
new line or product that has tested well and the teams are finalising its
formulation, features and price.


But how does it fit with the rest of your product line? And where does it stand
against competitors? Does it maximise the potential of your portfolio? Are there
small changes you can make to prices, range or features that could get you that
elusive extra share?


These are questions that are not asked – or at least not answered – often
enough. Shelf and concept testing will get part of the way to the new product’s
strength, but will not give the detail needed to fully optimise your whole
portfolio on product launch.


This is where a conjoint exercise can fill in the gaps. Conjoint provides each
respondent with a series of choices between different products and brands, each
with a range of features and prices. From the responses to these limited
options, we can use a sophisticated model to predict what shoppers would choose
in a vast range of different scenarios.


CASE STUDY: OPTIMISING THE PORTFOLIO AND UNDERSTANDING THE VALUE OF FEATURES


In a recent study, our client wanted to understand how a new product range would
fit with the rest of its portfolio. The NPD team had developed 6 variations, but
could only launch up to 4 – the key was understanding which should be launched,
which from the current portfolio could be retired and how to set the pricing
strategy to maximise return.


The client also had another item on the wishlist: quantify the value that
customers placed on each feature – giving the NPD team a direction for future
development.


The Ink team worked closely with our client to understand the parameters – which
features could be varied, what prices were realistic and what parts of the
portfolio could and could not be changed. We designed a conjoint exercise with
14 products, each with up to 8 varied features and 5 price points. This was
implemented across three markets among over 3,000 respondents.


The results, as with any well designed conjoint, were incredibly rich:


 * Optimum portfolios and prices
 * We first provided the optimum portfolio across the current and new NPD range
   – which products to include and at what prices gave the maximum volume and
   value. We were also able to say which products should be used when the space
   for the range was limited (aiding in retailer conversations) and which
   consumer segments were driving the volumes.
   
   
 * The value of features to customers
 * By putting a $ value on the individual features the teams were able to see
   both which features to concentrate support on for the new products and where
   to dedicate resource for future development.
   
   
 * An interactive leave-behind model
 * We created an Excel based version of the model which we left with the client.
   This allowed the client to investigate the effect on value and volume of a
   huge range of scenarios as well as investigating further which segments drove
   volume for each product.
   
   


For more information about how we can help with your NPD, either via Conjoint or
our unique shelf-led NPD volume predictions, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, 07969 815274


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WHEN CONSUMERS CAN’T TELL THE TRUTH: CREATING REAL INSIGHT USING FLAWED
RESPONSES


This may be surprising for non-researchers to hear, but there are questions
frequently asked in consumer research which respondents NEVER answer accurately.


This is not because respondents are deliberately lying, but because they do not
typically think about these questions in their daily life. Take purchase
frequency, for example. Most people would think they have a good idea of how
regularly they buy products from supermarkets. However, for most respondents,
that is simply not the case: shoppers wildly overestimate or underestimate
purchase frequencies in survey environments.


Complicating matters further, the amount by which consumers overclaim or
underclaim varies substantially by category (so we can’t simply apply a factor
to claimed responses): The overclaim effect tends to be more pronounced for low
involvement FMCG categories, while alcoholic beverage purchasing is often
understated.


So, how can you ensure that the insights you’ve paid for are based on real
behaviour?


Experience and know-how are required to know which questions tend to be answered
incorrectly. However, the answer is not necessarily to avoid asking them; they
are essential to answer some critical business questions. In these cases, we can
correct and recalibrate responses to find the real answers.


CALIBRATING CLAIMED RESULTS WITH MARKET DATA


For each measure which could be overstated, the key to understanding the true
insight is to identify the factor by which responses are overclaimed. To do
this, we test a benchmark cell replicating real market conditions, and compare
with actual market data.


Comparisons between the benchmark survey data and real data demonstrate the
extent to which we need to calibrate our survey responses to match real
behaviour. We can then apply this to any scenario we are testing.


This approach can be used simply to understand shoppers’ true behaviour compared
to claimed data, but if we apply a modelling element, it can also be used to
forecast sales from claimed responses.


UNDERSTANDING THE REAL IMPACT OF INSTORE CHANGES


We recently ran a project investigating whether resiting our client's SKUs to a
different fixture in store would boost category volume and value. For this
complex task we simulated several journeys through store in a survey
environment, with half of our sample seeing the original store layout and half
seeing the proposed new siting.


We took market data for the category and competitive categories, including past
2-year data for purchase frequencies. Using this, we calibrated survey data for
the current scenario simulated shop to reflect market realities.


We found - for instance - that our client’s SKUs were “bought” significantly
more often in the survey than would be expected from sales data, so we
calibrated downwards in both this and the projected scenario. We applied these
calibrations across a range of modelling elements – most corrections were only
small, but combined, potentially contributed significantly to the final results.


Once these were factored in, we could understand how survey data would translate
into actual sales figures for the new scenario. This allowed us to demonstrate,
simply and precisely, which scenario would result in higher sales volume and
value for our client's brand, and the category as a whole.


CONTACT US


At Ink, we understand which questions consumers have trouble responding to, when
to avoid using them, and how to coax useful insights out of them. To discuss how
we can help you get the answers you are looking for, contact:
Caspar Swanston, Associate Director
caspar.swanston@inkmr.com, 07789 208611


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IS HALF YOUR INSTORE MARKETING BUDGET WASTED?


John Wanamaker (in)famously claimed: “Half the money I spend on advertising is
wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.” But could that apply equally
well to your instore marketing?


Our path to purchase research suggests that almost HALF of all decisions on what
to buy in UK grocers are pre-determined (i.e. made pre-store with no
consideration for alternatives). Instore marketing will have little impact on
shoppers who have already made their minds up. Is your spend targeted
efficiently to take advantage of the purchase occasions which can be influenced
by shopper marketing?


47% UK INSTORE GROCER PURCHASE DECISIONS ARE MADE PRE STORE

The 47% of shopping occasions where the consumer has already made their mind up
are not open to disruption. These are unconscious, fast, and non-comparative
decisions (“system 1” decisions in behavioural economics terms), driven largely
by prior usage.


A good shopper marketing approach should focus on those occasions which are open
to disruption - the other three occasion types outlined in the above graphic.

 * - Unplanned/ impulse purchase occasions (~16%)
 * - Occasions where category was decided pre store, but product instore (~25%)
 * - Occasions where product was decided pre store, but the shopper changed
   their mind instore (~12%)

Purchases during these types of occasion are driven by different needs to
pre-store decisions and have more leverageable drivers (price, shelf stand out,
messaging etc.). Consequently, each one requires a bespoke instore approach.Of
course, you should not abandon the ~47% of pre-decided purchases. These should
be targeted through brand building; widening top of funnel and building brand
closeness to ensure you are top of mind for these more sub-conscious decisions.

THE INK CATEGORY OPTIMISATION MODEL

Our approach to category optimisation research approaches the path to purchase
through this framework. We map how to best allocate resources by focussing on
the disruptable purchase paths. This enables us to identify the most profitable
of the purchase paths and advise you on how to target, so you are not wasting
money on uninfluenceable occasions.

Our model also incorporates brand salience and image to target pre-store
purchase decisions. This panoramic view of the category avoids the pitfalls of
traditional category testing, which traditionally focuses on either usage and
attitude, or P2P. Our holistic approach explores all areas where your brand may
be underperforming.

ABOUT INK

To hear more about specific case studies, or to hear how we can help with your
shopper marketing, get in touch.


Caspar Swanston, Associate Director
caspar.swanston@inkmr.com , 07789 208611


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WHY RANGE AND PRICE OPTIMISATION SO FREQUENTLY GETS IT WRONG


A good friend and I have an ongoing conversation (/argument) about the decisions
he makes in supermarkets. He maintains that as a scientist and logical thinker,
every choice he makes is comparative and thought through. He gets to the shelf,
evaluates what’s available at what price and makes a fast, but considered
choice. For every product. In every category.


He’d be a vanishingly unusual shopper if this were really the case.


We all take short cuts every time we shop, saving ourselves the mental effort of
making hundreds of unnecessary decisions – we quickly single out and choose our
usual brand, our usual product, from the vast array of alternatives available to
us. Indeed, Ink’s work on decision paths suggests that around half of all of our
UK grocer decisions are made long before we get to the shelf.


REPLICATING REAL LIFE IN OUR RESEARCH



From a researcher’s point of view, we have to step back and ask whether we do
enough to recognise these decision paths when we conduct our market research?


At Ink we design our research through the lens of real shopper decisions. Our
NPD Model has been using decision path theory to give us more accurate and
actionable testing for years; and another area we think requires the decision
path treatment is range and price optimisation.


Our preferred approach for optimisation is choice-based conjoint: showing
shoppers carefully curated sets of choices with varying ranges, features and
prices, before modelling results to allow us to find optimum combinations for
different line-ups. We love conjoint – it is established, flexible, powerful
and, in many ways, replicates the way we make decisions at shelf.


But it also makes a dangerous assumption – that product choices, while made
quickly, are nevertheless done in a considered and logical way, scanning the
range and making a judgement as to the best option to buy (my friend’s claimed
approach to a tee!). Clearly this is simply not the case for every purchase
decision.


WHY IT’S DANGEROUS TO IGNORE DECISION PATHS IN RANGE AND PRICE OPTIMISATIONS


We could, of course, just ignore the fact that conjoint doesn’t match real
decision paths. Research is, after all, always only an approximation of real
life.


But that’s a mistake for optimisations like this: product choice on occasions
which are made pre-store are heavily weighted in favour of big brands. So by
ignoring decision paths we are distorting the real choices people will make –
giving smaller, less well known brands, more weight than they would really have
in real life.


CORRECTING RANGE AND PRICE OPTIMISATIONS FOR REAL LIFE


Our conjoint modelling builds in corrections for pre-store decisions. It uses
our path to purchase understanding and results to apply restrictions that get us
far closer to replicating real world decisions – making our range and price
optimisations far more accurate than the traditional approaches.


Of course, we don’t stop there! We can also build in modelling that takes into
account:

 * Recommendations from staff: In categories such as medicines or beauty, where
   an in-store advisor’s recommendation is given a lot of weight we can build
   that into our modelling
   
   
 * Distribution and out of stocks: Choice is also clearly limited by
   availability – we use industry data to weight our model to provide more
   accurate outputs (we can even alter distribution levels in our model to
   inform how different levels affect choice)
 * By putting a $ value on the individual features the teams were able to see
   both which features to concentrate support on for the new products and where
   to dedicate resource for future development.
   
   


For more information about how we can help with your NPD, either via Conjoint or
our unique shelf-led NPD volume predictions, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, +44 (0)7969 815274


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MEASURING THE IMPACT OF COVID ON SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR


For most of us the last year has been exceptional, causing huge disruption to
our usual way of life, our mental and physical wellbeing, and the economy. Our
long-established life patterns have been challenged which has clearly also had
an impact on how we shop. The shifts to online shopping and less frequent,
bigger basket trips have been well documented but we have also seen changes at a
more micro level, with brand and product choice also affected by the pandemic.
With “Freedom Day” just around the corner, we are all very much hoping that
things will start to go back to normal, but the jury is still out what the ‘new
normal’ will look like across all aspects of life including purchase behaviour.


HOW LASTING AN IMPACT HAS COVID ON SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR?


Given our focus on FMCG at Ink, we have had lots of conversations with our
clients over the past year on how the pandemic has impacted consumers’ needs and
how well-established shopping behaviours have changed across categories as a
result of Covid-19. Some of the questions that kept re-occurring included:


 * How do we know how much of the changes in shopping habits are driven by
   Covid?
 * How likely is it that these new-found shopping habits are here to stay?
 * Will shoppers revert to old habits if things go back to normal?
 * How can we be sure that research results collected during the pandemic will
   continue to be valid when restrictions are lifted?


In fact, one of our clients challenged us to identify how product choice was
currently influenced by Covid as part of a strategic range review, looking at
whether the planned optimisation across their brand portfolio was going to
continue to be relevant in a post-Covid world.


HOW CAN WE ASSESS THE SCALE OF THE COVID EFFECT ON CONSUMERS’ PRODUCT CHOICE
(WITHOUT A TIME MACHINE)?

Now, we all know that the only way to scientifically establish to what extent
shopping behaviour has changed is to compare two points in time, in this case
pre and mid-pandemic - differences in brand preferences can then at least partly
be attributed to Covid-19. Telling our clients that they would have to use a
time machine to go back to February 2020 clearly was not an option, so we set
about finding a more realistic solution to optimise their portfolio in the
short-term whilst also future-proofing the changes to their range for when the
pandemic has, hopefully, been contained.


MODELLING THE DATA TO ESTABLISH COVID BEHAVIOUR AND WEIGHT PURCHASE CHOICE TO
PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS


To establish the best brand and SKU product line-up, we started off with a
choice-based approach, using a standard conjoint method with lots of products
tested at five different price points. Grounding the exercise in their most
recent purchase occasion (less than three months ago), we asked respondents to
make real choices based on different product options in front of them, giving us
thousands of choices and different product line-up scenarios to identify the
products that are currently most popular among shoppers in the category and
advise which brands, SKUs and prices to adopt.


Once we had the full pandemic-based results, we were then able to adapt our
model to carefully chosen control measures designed to give us a picture of what
the results might have looked like had we conducted the research pre-pandemic.
Using brand and product sales data and purchase frequencies pre- and mid-
pandemic, we built a new version of the model weighted to tell us how choices
might look if all shopping went back to “normal” levels.


A CLEAR ROADMAP ON HOW BEST TO NAVIGATE THE BRAND PORTFOLIO UPDATE DURING AND
POST COVID

Comparing results of the model from the current and pre-pandemic weights, we
were able to advise our client what the impact would be if we assumed a complete
return to pre-covid shopping.


Interestingly for our client, results were strengthened when the pre-Covid
weights were applied, suggesting that the strategic move to optimise their brand
portfolio was going to be a success in the short time while the pandemic was
still on-going but had the potential of carving out further incremental sales if
shopping behaviour were to go back to pre-pandemic levels.


So, whilst we were unable to predict whether changes in shopping behaviour are
here to stay or go back to normal (we suspect a middle-ground), our method
allowed our client to future proof their strategy in the face of Covid-19.


 * Optimum portfolios and prices
 * We first provided the optimum portfolio across the current and new NPD range
   – which products to include and at what prices gave the maximum volume and
   value. We were also able to say which products should be used when the space
   for the range was limited (aiding in retailer conversations) and which
   consumer segments were driving the volumes.
   
   
 * The value of features to customers
 * By putting a $ value on the individual features the teams were able to see
   both which features to concentrate support on for the new products and where
   to dedicate resource for future development.
   
   
 * An interactive leave-behind model
 * We created an Excel based version of the model which we left with the client.
   This allowed the client to investigate the effect on value and volume of a
   huge range of scenarios as well as investigating further which segments drove
   volume for each product.
   
   


To find out more about this study or how we can help you with shopper research,
contact us at:
Praxedis Page, Director
praxedis.page@inkmr.com, 07828010343


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HOW CONTROL CHARTING CAN REINVIGORATE YOUR BRAND TRACKING


Brand tracking divides marketers. For some, it’s a critical tool worth investing
in, to ensure they can show the evidence that their brilliant marketing plans
are working; for others it’s simply a money-wasting, box-ticking exercise (sales
figures are king, right?).


Unfortunately, many in the latter group have had bad experiences with brand
tracking – too many have seen flat, uninspiring data that is difficult to
translate to brand planning. Marketing activities often have only subtle effects
on the brand funnel; standard brand tracking, with affordable sample sizes, can
struggle to confidently pick up these longer term changes.


Of course, they could increase the number of people interviewed in their
tracking to make it more robust – but who signs off more budget for a tracker
that is not delivering?


CONTROL CHARTING – ADAPTING AN ESTABLISHED MANUFACTURING APPROACH

Enter control charting. Control charting was originally devised by Bell labs
right back in the 1920s to check whether the size of the “widgets” on a
production line was changing over time. Standard statistical approaches often
took too long to identify an issue, wasting time and money.


So, they designed a relatively simple approach in which they observed how many
widgets in a series fell consistently above or below the average – too many in a
set in one direction and they could be confident (statistically) that sizing was
slowly going awry.


Control charting can work in the same way for brand tracking. Without needing to
increase sample sizes, control charting can tell us with real confidence whether
a measure has increased consistently vs. a previous period.

 * Look at pre- vs. post- marketing activity to check whether the measures you
   are targeting are moving in the right direction (even if the standard stats
   tests can’t tell)
 * Understand the decay time after an activity or event before key measures
   return to pre-activity levels
 * Feed into brand planning to define which funnel and image measures have moved
   in the right direction (this can be done before year end to fit with your
   planning schedule).

MAKING CONTROL CHARTING WORK FOR YOUR BRAND PLANNING

Of course, all of the brand tracking basics have to be right for control
charting to be of value: Your brand funnel and image questions have to be
sensitive enough; your competitive set has to be right; your sample has to be
your exact audience, ideally segmented in a way that allows us to break them
down (and control chart them by segment!).


But control charting offers a statistically robust and highly accessible way of
making your brand tracking go further – reinvigorating it into a tool that is
built bespoke for your brand and marketing planning.



To find out more about control charting or to hear how Ink can help your
business track brand success, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, +44 (0)7969 815274


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HOW MUCH SHOPPERS ARE REALLY WILLING TO PAY FOR PLASTIC-FREE PACKAGING


The movement to reduce our plastic use has gained significant momentum in recent
months, driven in no small part by Blue Planet II. Shoppers all like to think
they’re doing their bit and the media is full of surveys in which they claim
they would change behaviour – and pay more – to help the environment.


BUT WHEN GIVEN A REAL CHOICE WILL SHOPPERS PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS
AND PAY A PREMIUM FOR PLASTIC-FREE PACKAGING? AT INK WE SET OUT TO FIND OUT.


Rather than just ask about what people would pay for, we took a more implicit
route. We gave shoppers a series of purchase choices for supermarket
strawberries, before our clever friends at Marquant modelled the results to
measure the value of different features such as price, fair trade, provenance
and packaging.

Our findings – which compared real choices to how consumers claimed they would
behave in direct questioning – were revealing:


1. SHOPPERS WILL PAY MORE FOR LOCAL THAN PLASTIC FREE

Price is by far the most important element in shoppers’ decisions – no surprise
there. What is surprising is that locally sourced foods can command a far higher
premium than any of the other elements we measured – including plastic free (or
indeed wholly bio-degradable) packaging.


This was despite shoppers claiming in the direct questioning section that
plastic-free and UK sourcing were about equal.


Part of this could be a “strawberry effect” here – good old British strawberries
being better than those abroad. But the extent of the difference was
astonishing: shoppers were willing to pay 82p more on average for a product
marked as being from a local farm (and almost as much for just UK sourced).




That’s more than twice as much of a premium as plastic-free packaging commanded!


2. PLASTIC-FREE PACKAGING IS WORTH A SIGNIFICANT PREMIUM

Nonetheless, shoppers are still keen to do their bit and are happy to pay extra
for a product that doesn’t come in plastic – in our strawberry study the
“plastic-free premium” came to 39p. That’s not an insignificant price hike, but
may not be enough for retailers to offset the investment required for
non-plastic packaging, not to mention any gain in shelf life plastic brings. We
also included wholly biodegradable packaging as an option and this did command
higher prices, but only marginally so at 43p extra. It seems plastic-free is
gaining ground not just in publicity terms, but in real value to shoppers too.


3. SHOPPERS INFLATE THE VALUE OF SOME THINGS IN THEIR MINDS


It’s not so rosy a picture for organic and fair trade products – despite
shoppers’ belief that it is important to support farmers and that organic food
is worth paying more for, consumers are far less willing to pay a significant
premium on these things in real life. In our study, shoppers would only pay 12p
and 15p for organic and fair trade produce respectively – far less than they
predicted they would pay.

SO WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?


Well, for manufacturers and retailers , the plastic-free revolution continues –
there’s clearly already a brand image, PR and CSR advantage to be had through
investing in eco packaging. But will there be a tipping point where the premium
shoppers are willing to pay makes commercial sense to invest in?


For marketers and researchers , the message is clear – shoppers can’t (or won’t)
always accurately predict their own behaviour when asked direct questions. We
have to be clever about how we approach shopper insight and understand that
survey responses can’t always be taken at face value.

The study threw up all sorts of interesting details about shopper behaviour –
including big differences in Millennials vs. Gen X and Baby Boomers and insights
into shoppers at different grocers. To get a more detailed run-through, contact
us at:


To find out more about this study or how we can help you with shopper research,
contact us at:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com , 07969815274


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THE INK NPD MODEL
(WHY TRADITIONAL CONCEPT TESTING FAILS THE “REAL WORLD” TEST)

The recent industry focus on shopper decision making at shelf has been on
“unconscious” decisions: consumers buying everyday brands without any engaged
thought processes, the purchase instead triggered by “heuristics” and branding
cues. But for new products, the decision process is necessarily different; to
encourage purchase of a new product on shelf, the brand must disrupt the usual
shelf experience and force shoppers to make a considered decision in which they
compare the new product with others on shelf.


Our research backs up this thinking. Among a set of new product releases for
well known brands (all of which had received significant marketing support) the
majority of shopper decisions are made at shelf, with only a quarter being
driven purely by in-market activity and word of mouth:


WHY TRADITIONAL NPD TESTING FAILS THE “REAL WORLD” TEST

Most traditional NPD research concentrates on understanding reaction to a
concept – i.e. testing a product in isolation from its competitors. But, as we
have seen, this is not how most decisions are made in the real world – the
concept test route misses out on the key comparative shelf element of the
decision.


Other testing routes flip this around completely by concentrating the research
wholly on a mocked-up shelf. Again, however, this misses out on a key element:
the support that a brand gives a new launch which reinforces the messaging and
directs shoppers to find the products in store or online. Using only a shelf
also significantly restricts the detail of diagnostic feedback research can
provide.


THE INK NPD MODEL

Just as in real life, the Ink NPD model has shoppers assessing the new product
both at shelf and concept in turn. Half of our sample sees the shelf first
(replicating those who come across it on shelf first in real life) and half see
the concept first (mirroring those who see some brand support before going in
store).

Results are then modelled, weighting the relative shelf and concept scores to
provide a Market Potential Score and year 1 value and volume predictions – real
world figures which feed directly into our clients’ new product development
processes.

The Ink NPD model not only replicates real life purchase decisions more closely,
but gives us an understanding of:

 * Whether the new product has enough shelf presence to succeed (our bespoke “at
   shelf pick-up tool” measures interest and conversion to purchase)
 * Whether the new product concept is strong enough to drive shoppers to seek
   out the product on shelf
 * Whether the packaging communicates the message that is intended
 * How to further develop the concept via in-depth diagnostics




For the full thought piece or more information on the Ink NPD Model or the study
we conducted, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, 07969 815274


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MILLENNIALS LEAD THE WAY IN SUPERMARKET CHOICE

A client recently challenged us at Ink to think about the Behavioural Economics
of supermarket choice: Specifically, how much of choice was ingrained,
unconscious and "fast". And how much was more considered and comparative. We
speculated that while most people will at some point make rational comparisons
between grocers, almost all individual grocery trips would be "fast".


We were wrong!


Our recent study addressing precisely these questions among a representative
group of 1,000 UK adults generated some fascinating insight:



 * One in three grocery shopping missions is a considered decision (i.e.
   shoppers take into account one or more factors when deciding which
   supermarket to use). From a Behavioural Economics point of view this means
   that a huge amount of decision making is System 2 – not automated, same every
   time, but consciously considered and thought out, based on research of some
   sort.
 * The discounters and ASDA are the least researched of the supermarkets - only
   a little over one in four of their missions are researched, vs. almost 40% of
   those for Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. The low price message seems to
   have penetrated shoppers core beliefs for ASDA (via their everyday low prices
   strategy) and the discounters – so shoppers are making decisions more
   automatically for these brands (perhaps explaining some of their recent
   success).
 * Unsurprisingly, mission type also played a big role in whether supermarket
   choice was considered or not. Big weekly or bi-weekly shops, where shoppers
   have the most to gain (or lose) financially are the most considered, while
   top up shops are less researched and emergency shops very little.




Powerful though these insights are, one thing stuck out considerably more:


MILLENNIALS ARE FAR MORE CONSIDERED ABOUT THEIR CHOICE OF SUPERMARKET THAN THE
OLDER COHORTS





This was interesting at first – of course, we thought, younger groups research
their supermarkets more because they've grown up with the internet and are more
likely to be online. And we were right – Millennials are far more likely than
the older groups to research via sites and apps, particularly the supermarkets'
own.


What came as more of a surprise was the fact that Millennials used more offline
tools too. They were more than twice as likely to use store magazines and
leaflets than those over 35 and more than three times as likely to admit to
considering advertising to decide where to shop.


Millennials, it seems, are simply more comfortable with making comparisons and
are less brand loyal (or brand centric) than the older cohorts when it comes to
shopping for groceries. This is despite evidence that this age group tend to be
more loyal to brands they respect and feel close to.

Our hypothesis is that this is likely to be due to a combination of their
comfort level with the vast number of comparative information sources available
to them and a financial crisis-driven outlook which has forced recent frugality
and savviness upon this generation.

The question is: Is it an ingrained attitude that will remain into their later
life or will the Millennial generation morph into the same, less considered
decision making their older relatives display. Given the relatively little
difference between the 18-24s and 25-34s on this, our money is on the former –
this generation simply being more choosy and considered in their supermarket
choices.

Whatever the reasons, it seems to be good news for advertisers – particularly
those targeting Millennials. But less good for the non-discount supermarkets.

For more information on this thought piece or more detail on how we conduct our
shopper research, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, 07969 815274


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CASE STUDY: CATEGORY GROWTH DEEP DIVE

Our client, a large food producer, wanted to re-invest in a category where
innovation had been lacking across the market, but had little consumer-focused
evidence to base their investment decisions on. Our brief was therefore very
broad:



HOW DO WE GROW THE CATEGORY?

(Just the sort of challenge we like!)


Our first step was to work with our client to mine the internal stakeholders’
knowledge – the category managers and insight director were able to give us a
deep overview from the business’ point of view, as well as some hypotheses about
where they (and the retailers) thought the opportunities might lie.

We then collaborated with our qualitative partner, Qual Street, to understand
the shape of the market – they were able to identify a series of characteristics
that we could then test:

 * Need States, which are prevalent when using the products in the category
 * Product Formats, in the consumers’ language
 * Consumption Occasion Types, when food from the category is eaten
 * Consumer Typologies, segments classified by their use of and attitudes to the
   category


Add in the different retailers that the client wanted to look at and it was
clear that we needed to get to extremely granular results to meet the
objectives.


HOW WE WENT ABOUT THE CHALLENGE

Our first task was to secure the robust (and in some cases very low incidence)
samples we would need for the project without busting the budget. To do this we
worked with a fieldwork partner to pre-screen their UK panel – giving us
cost-effective access to the sample we needed for the project.

We then worked closely with Qual Street to put the needstates, occasions and
formats into consumer language for the quantitative questionnaire, as well as
devising attitudinal statements to feed into sizing the consumer typologies. The
questionnaire concentrated on specific occasion-based feedback to give us real
world*, actionable and accurate results.


The pre-screening gave us a really robust 1,700 interviews, including:

 * Over 200 main shoppers at each of six key retailers
 * 250 shoppers who are representative of the market to give us a baseline of
   the size of the opportunities
 * Over 100 regular buyers of each product format – including some with very low
   incidence of purchase
 * Robust groups in all of the key consumption occasions to identify market gaps
 * Over 300 in each of five consumer segments (classified by a cluster analysis)


RESULTS

We concentrated on FIVE CONCRETE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GROWTH, each of which we
classified by:
Size of the opportunity – giving a steer on how to allocate resources
Ease of implementation – showing which were short term wins and which required
longer term investment


For each opportunity we provided a framework for how it could be achieved – who
to target, messaging and in-store comms, as well as more specific elements such
as NPD, pack or product changes. And because of our robust base sizes we were
also able to provide retailer-specific outputs and recommendations.



* Avoiding generalised and bland results
We know from experience and Behavioural Economics thinking that shoppers find it
difficult to accurately recall all of their category use occasions – their
memories will often focus on the most regular at the expense of other, smaller
occasions, giving us a skewed picture of the market (and often missing out on
the most important growth opportunities).

We therefore concentrate on single, real occasions (usually the most recent
occasion). We spread interviewing over several days to give us a representative
view of occasions and investigate each in depth to measure behaviours and
identify core barriers and opportunities.


For more detail on the study or more information on how we go about category
deep dives, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, 07969 815274


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CASE STUDY: CONCEPT TESTING FOR BUSINESS FORECASTING

OUR CLIENT’S POSITION

The market leader and the pioneer in their field, our client (an online
retailer) was coming under increasing pressure from new me-too market entrants.
Following extensive customer research they came up with a newly refreshed
product offer, with a lifestyle rather than function focus. As the launch date
came closer and the range detail became clearer, the business needed a detailed,
quantitative understanding of:



 * Current customers to check they were not alienated by the new range
 * Lapsed customers to understand likely win back (if any)
 * Prospects to feed into acquisition strategy and messaging




Critical for the business was to measure the switching process, putting solid
numbers behind which customers would switch to which products, feeding into
forecasting modelling.


To complicate matters further, our client needed results within a week in order
to be able to launch the new product range on time. So not an easy feat –
exactly a challenge that we at Ink were delighted to help with!


HOW WE WENT ABOUT THE CHALLENGE


Those familiar with Ink will know that we place huge importance on research
staying as close to reality as possible and on replicating how people make
decisions in real life. We therefore worked closely with our client on the look
and feel of the range concepts and reproduced the way the products are displayed
on our client’s website.

So, current and lapsed customers evaluated the new range as if it were already
online – for these groups it was easy to compare to what they currently (or used
to) get and decide whether they would continue buying (or start again).

Potential new customers were a little more difficult. These we split into two –
one exposed to the current range and one to the new (in real life they would
never see both ranges, so we didn’t show the two side by side in this test
either). The difference between those who saw the current and the new gave us
the likely impact on acquisition.


REPORTING BACK THE RESULTS


We presented the results hot off the press – the day after the fieldwork
completed! – to all teams involved in the re-launch. The research gave a clear
indication of the new range’s likely impact on our client’s sales figures with
regards to their retention, re-engagement and acquisition strategy. The debrief
was followed up by a series of meetings with the forecasting and comms teams to
define the launch strategy and to plan the most effective messaging campaign
when transitioning from the current to the new product range.


For more detail on the study or more information on how we go about concept
testing, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, 07969 815274


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TITLE: THE FRAGMENTED WELLNESS MARKET (AND HOW WE OVERSTATE ITS VALUE IN OUR
LIVES)

It’s only in the last few years that wellness – defined by the WHO a “state of
complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity” – has begun to grow into a commercial force to be reckoned
with.


The growth has been evident across a wide range of categories, from technology
(in particular apps and wearables) to the dizzying array of herbal and other OTC
products and alternative foods. At Ink, over the past 2 years we’ve been tasked
by clients from FMCG, media and tech to help them understand the surge in
wellness’ popularity and what it means for their businesses.


But how much of our view of the growth of wellness is based on the fact that we
live in a professional urban “bubble” – are we assuming it’s everywhere, just
because it’s a focus for some of our clients, when it’s actually not the
slightest bit relevant to the everyday shopper? And how committed are people to
achieving wellness benefits – if it was a choice between wellness and
old-fashioned hard cash, how would they react?


We set out to find out. We first asked 500 representative UK adults what they
prioritised in their lives in absolute terms – a range of wellness benefits vs.
wealth and salary. We then gave them a series of choices (using a “MaxDiff”
design, for the researchers out there) and then modelled the results.

SOME SORT OF WELLNESS IS USUALLY CHOSEN OVER CASH…



Despite this, cash was the most chosen option – because all of the individual
wellness benefits were chosen by relatively small numbers of people. And it’s
not just that there were lots of benefits available, so responses to each one
were diluted – our modelling allowed us to isolate and compare pairs of benefits
to see which would be chosen most. Compare cash to any individual benefit
one-to-one and cash wins out every time. Even those who claim to suffer from a
particular problem – those who don’t sleep well, for example – are still more
likely to choose cash over improving their condition. The implications for
businesses looking to take advantage of the wellness trend are significant:
either target one wellness area and accept the relatively niche nature of the
market or somehow try to bridge all areas and know that most people will be
prioritising just one (and that the business will be competing with others who
are specialising in each individual wellness area).



THE WELLNESS SWEET SPOT


While the market as a whole is clearly fragmented, there are a group of people
who will pretty much always choose a wellness benefit over a cash alternative.
This relatively big segment – representing almost a third of the population –
are the clear sweet spot for the industry. They have a clear demographic and
attitudinal profile that makes them relatively easy to target (get in touch with
us if you’d like to hear more).


“MINDFULNESS” IN ITSELF IS STILL VERY NICHE


One wellness benefit tested – “practicing mindfulness” – performed particularly
poorly: it was only prioritised by c.2% of respondents, the second least chosen
attribute: it seems that using terms such as “mindfulness” still does not
resonate with most shoppers. However, change that to more everyday language and
the number choosing it goes up considerably – both “time to spend on yourself”
and “time to spend unwinding / destressing” did significantly better than
“mindfulness”.


While these more common phrases might not have the same intrinsic meaning that
that “mindfulness” encompasses, they are clearly more acceptable to the average
shopper – so for those in the wellness space looking to appeal to a wide
audience, careful messaging will be key.


SHOPPERS OVERCLAIM THE IMPORTANCE OF WELLNESS BENEFITS IN DIRECT QUESTIONING

As with a lot of our studies, part of the objective of this exercise was to
explore the difference between asking people directly what their priorities are
and using a choice-based model to measure priorities more indirectly.


For wellness the differences between direct and indirect questioning were
perhaps more stark than for any other study we’ve done. We all like to think of
ourselves as prioritising our family and friends, concentrating on our own
mental and physical health and getting a good work/life balance over more
materialistic gains – and that’s exactly what we found when we asked people to
prioritise without having to make any choices or compromises.



But when it comes down to the stark choices of a one-off payment vs. wellness
benefits, the cash inevitably has a bigger draw than we think it should! In
fact, materialistic gains go from eighth highest priority in the direct
questioning to first in the MaxDiff exercise.

The wellness max diff study has given us a unique view into the wellness arena.
The model – which we’ve translated into an easy to use excel simulator – allow
us to look at a vast range of scenarios and break down responses to give truly
granular insights. To hear more about it, drop us a line.
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, 07969 815274


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OPTIMISING YOUR BRAND TRACKING – THE KEY PITFALLS TO AVOID


Brand tracking can divide marketers. For some, it’s a critical tool that’s worth
investing time and budget to ensure it can show the evidence that their
brilliant marketing plans are working; for others it’s simply a money-wasting,
box-ticking exercise (sales figures are king, right?).

You won’t be surprised to hear that at Ink we are firmly in the former camp – at
its best, tracking is a robust, but rapier sharp tool to set your strategy, hone
your execution as the year progresses and feed into the next phase of your plan.

Unfortunately, that’s not every brand’s experience. Unfocused, poorly executed
research is more prevalent than it should be and this has given tracking a bad
reputation among some marketers.

Having championed tracking throughout my career, I’ve often talked in depth with
client researchers and marketers about what’s gone wrong for them and I thought
it might be useful to try to summarise the big pitfalls.

(As a start point I’ve assumed you have chosen a strong research agency that
gets well constructed, fresh, matched groups of respondents for you each wave –
otherwise tracking goes from useful to damaging lighting fast!).

So, here goes, my top brand tracking pitfalls are:


PITFALL 1: USE AN OFF THE SHELF SOLUTION

You’re using a well known tracking approach from a world renowned agency –
surely it will give you everything you need?

But that’s a lazy approach. You wouldn’t dream of using a pre-defined marketing
plan for your brand (would you?). Your plan is bespoke for your brand and you
need a tracking study that is specific to it in order to properly measure its
success. Granted, if you’re just starting out in the planning you may need an
orientation or foundation study to give you the current positionings, strengths
and potential opportunities; but tracking research is not a fishing trip – you
know what you want to achieve before you start it and the tracking should
reflect that.

Of course, you need to have an agency that can translate your needs into a
business-useful research programme. And to do that, you need to trust them with
the details of your long term planning.

But the tracking should be as individual as your long term plan is for your
brand.

PITFALL 2: NEVER CHANGE IT

Of course, consistency is key for your core measures – you have to think long
and hard before making changes to anything central to the brand strength and
image part of a tracker.

But unless you bake in flexibility, it’s going to lose relevance and usefulness
very quickly. Your business and marketing plan evolves over time – and so should
your tracker.


PITFALL 3: SAVE MONEY BY INTERVIEWING LESS OFTEN

Like everything else in your planning, brand tracking needs to offer good value
for money – and there’s a temptation to shave a bit off the costs with less
frequent interviewing. Surely quarterly interviewing – or even an annual dip –
gives us enough to see where the brand’s heading?

But it’s a false economy. Interviewing more frequently – at least monthly –
tells us so much more about the brand and market; and the cost savings of not
doing it this way are negligible.

By interviewing monthly (or more often) we can start to look at the cause of
changes over time – we can look at the effect of your and your competitors’
activities, allowing you to adjust your planning accordingly. An annual or
quarterly dip will tell you what’s happening, but you need more often to get to
the critical “why”.


PITFALL 4: SCRIMP ON SAMPLE

Your agency should advise on how many people to interview based on your needs
and marketing plans – but there’s always the temptation to cut that back to save
budget.

Listen to your agency! They know what is needed to be sure results are reliable
and robust – they will be able to give you a clear explanation of why they have
recommended a sample and what the consequences of cutting that back might be.
The last thing you want to see is tracking data with unexplained movements
because the sample is not robust enough – it doesn’t give anyone confidence that
the tracking is doing it’s job.


To find out more about control charting or to hear how Ink can help your
business track brand success, contact:
Barry Noble, Managing Director
barry.noble@inkmr.com, +44 (0)7969 815274


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MEASURING THE UNCONSCIOUS EFFECT OF ADVERTISING



Ask the average man or woman in the street and they’ll tell you advertising
doesn’t influence them. At a stretch they may concede that advertising helps
inform about what’s available and how products are different from competitors,
but nothing beyond that.


Brand owners, ad agencies and, in particular, creatives all know this isn’t
true: the most powerful advertising connects with audiences on an emotional
level, subtly shifting unconscious connections with a brand and edging shoppers
closer to a purchase decision.


Techniques exist to measure this unconscious effect (biometrics do a very good
job), but they tend to be difficult and expensive to implement, particularly
with robust samples of participants. This inability to measure unconscious
connections cost-effectively is an issue at the centre of the ongoing
hostilities between creatives and (quantitative) researchers.


And, as measuring decision paths is right up our street at Ink Research, it’s a
conundrum we’d love to get under the skin of.


So we were more than a little excited to make our first foray into applying an
Implicit Association Test (IAT) to the problem. IAT is a decades old technique
which has recently undergone somewhat of a resurgence – it was originally
designed to measure unconscious social biases in areas such as race, sexuality
and gender, but, with the right application, can be used to measure almost any
aspect of unconscious connection.



IAT steers away from direct questioning, instead relying on an online “game” in
which we measure the time it takes (in milliseconds) for respondents to sort
brands and words into different groups; the speed with which they can sort
elements together indicates (via a little statistical magic) how well they
subconsciously connect them with each other.


We tested IAT on two well known supermarket brands – one discounter and one of
the “big four”. We exposed half the sample to the discounter’s
(emotionally-driven) TV ad and asked all to complete the IAT sorting game and
answer some more traditional, direct questions for comparison. (We built the IAT
interviewing module from scratch to ensure it was seamless for participants and
could be re-used cost and time effectively).


The results: the discounter ad had an immediate effect on the brand’s connection
with viewers – around 10% more of the exposed group had a strong subconscious
connection to the brand than the unexposed group – a swing that was not apparent
in the direct questioning.





Perhaps more importantly, the IAT revealed specific drivers of closeness which
were more emotionally grounded – elements that the ad clearly targeted in its
messaging. Again these would not have been revealed using the traditional
questionnaire results.


Finally, we found that individuals’ IAT scores had a strong positive correlation
with shopping behaviour – so the unconscious connection also drives their
everyday decisions.


The IAT technique provides us with an exciting new tool for brand and
advertising research that:

 * Gets under the skin of the unconscious connections people have with brands
 * Gives us a tool to measure the drivers of emotional connections
 * Allows us to measure connections time and cost effectively


There are some questions still unanswered: We measured immediate ad effect, but
how does this decay and how many exposures prevent decay? And how does it work
with less traditional media, in particular digital?


But one thing is clear from the research: The creatives are right! Good
advertising has a clear effect on our unconscious connections with brands –
something we should be striving to understand alongside our more traditional
measures.

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