How to Leverage the Difference Between Shoppers and Buyers

Posted by Alan See on June 27, 2009

2 comments | 4853 reads

Some 18% of small-business owners surveyed in April said they are working a second job, according to the latest findings from the American Express Open Small Business Monitor. It’s an indicator that many business owners are experiencing challenges in an economic environment that they haven’t faced before. It also sheds a new light on the lead generation process. The media landscape has expanded with a proliferation of channels touting more eyeballs and deeper customer engagement. More eyeballs and deeper engagement are both great. But when sales are down and you are forced to stop drawing a salary in order to deal with reduced cash flow you’ve got to be asking yourself;

"Where are the local customers who are ready to buy right now?"

According to research from comScore, Knowledge Networks/SRI, and other leading consumer media usage organizations; technology has dramatically improved the ability for consumers to research and shop before purchasing, causing previously used benchmarks like circulation to become weak indicators of expected sales. So, without relying on circulation numbers to derive a semi-accurate measure of expected sales how does an advertiser know where to spend their advertising dollars in today’s mix of print and online local business directories?

The key is to understand how online vs. offline media behavior differs between shoppers and buyers. Though online and offline behavior are not mutually exclusive of each other, each follows a different progression through the four primary phases of the buying cycle according to research from comScore and TMP.

Stage	Online	Offline
Need Definition	42%	16%
Research & Consideration	23%	23%
Intent / Shop	17%	21%
Local Business Selection	19%	41%

So, how does this data translate for the advertiser? TMP expresses it as, “When it comes to researching and purchasing, offline search is used overwhelmingly when a business has already been identified and consumers are ready to purchase. Online search, on the other hand, is used earlier in the buying process.” That means when putting together your directory ad, know that most consumers already know what they are looking for. They’ve decided to buy; now it’s more about informing and educating them quickly and making it easy for them to contact and do business with you.

Alan See

Alan See is CMO and Vice President at MindLeaders. His background also includes time as an associate faculty member at the University of Phoenix where he facilitated courses in Marketing and Management Theory. He holds a bachelor of arts in business and an MBA from Abilene Christian University.

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Alan J. Zell

July 13, 2009

difference between shoppers and buyers.

Alan, I don’t know if in the title of your article, “How to Leverage the Difference Between Shoppers and Buyers” is question or a suggestion or instruction. You wrote, “know that most consumers already know what they are looking for.” which I disagree with. Most people do not, specifically, know what they are looking for other than they are looking for something to fit their “shopping situation” – to go with what they are doing, planning to do, would like to do should they run into it. They, holding the important title of “shopper,” call, phone, enter a business or web site or allow a resource into their environment hoping that it will be called or be made available is logical – to their way of thinking and not resources way of thinking.

To be promoted to the highest title in business, that of Buyer from Shopper, it is because they are looking to reorder something they’ve used/used up, have heard of or read about, found and they pay with cash, check, credit card, complete a shopping cart. Until that takes place they still are shoppers.

How to leverage the difference is an interesting question or suggestion. Either one, in my way of thinking, it comes down to four factors:

1. “Awareness” that the resource exists, the product/service exists, that it is more than a “one size fits all, “ and that it can be used to make what they do do better and/or do differently, or do both.

2. Numbers. . . if enough people learn about something that fits their buying situation, the chances for their advancing from shopper to buyer will improve.

3. Understand that some will buy/buy into, but more will not, until they can determine that it fits into their budget of time, effort, space and/or money.

4. To never assume that people know what they are looking for. It is a business’s task is to teach shoppers to know what they didn’t know so they believe that they can talk with intelligence and confidence that by becoming a Buyer, they will be a better person in their own and well as others eye for their decision to buy.

Alan

Alan J. Zell, Ambassador of Selling, Attitudes for Selling
Recipient of the Murray Award for Marketing Excellence
Attitudes for Selling offers consulting, workshops and speaking on all business topics that affect sales.
He can be reached at azell@aol.com or through his web site, www.sellingselling.com

Roy

February 15, 2011

‘are consumer insights different from shopper insights’?

‘are consumer insights different from shopper insights’? - Well they couldn’t be more different. Simply put, consumer insights are what helps create products, basis the needs and wants of the consumers. Consumer insights are an understanding of the behaviour of the consumer, her usage patterns, her attitudes, motivations, etc. Shopper Insights on the other hand are about, understanding the various drivers with respect to shopping – i.e., shopping motivation, store choice, category choice, other purchase decisions and the purchase experience itself.

John Zabrodsky

March 15, 2011

Shopper to Buyer

Very insightful thoughts and eye-opening statistics about converting Shoppers to Buyers. I found an interesting site http://www.shoppertobuyer.com

Please keep up the good work,

John Z

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