The Evolution of the Consumer Purchase Journey: Embracing Omni-Channel Experiences
Consumer purchasing journey really has evolved dramatically, mirroring the changes in technology and consumer behaviour over the past three decades and more. Today, understanding this complex journey is crucial for market researchers, customer experience experts, and consumer insights teams. This evolution underscores the importance of adopting and leveraging new technologies to capture the multifaceted nature of consumer purchasing behaviour, particularly as we witness the shifting preferences of younger generations like Gen Z and Gen Alpha towards omni-channel shopping experiences.
The Consumer Purchase Journey in 30 Years
Cast your mind back to 1994, when the purchase/buying journey was relatively linear. Shoppers relied on physical stores, catalogues, with limited access to online platforms.
Fast forward to 2024, and the landscape is, well, pretty much unrecognisable. Consumers navigate through a maze of channels, from traditional brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce websites to social media platforms and beyond.
The rise of TikTok and similar platforms has added another layer of complexity, acting as both a discovery and an engagement tool for younger shoppers.
In a 2022 article it was reported that “ 88% of customers have bought an item after they watched a video of the company in question advertising it. Furthermore, 96% of people have watched a video to find out more in-depth information about a specific brand or item.”, with Gen Z shoppers increasingly navigating towards the TikTok Live Shopping feature (Clark, Jon. 2022).
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Understanding the Omni-Channel Experience
The term "omni-channel" refers to a seamless shopping experience across multiple channels, online and offline, providing consumers with a consistent and integrated experience. This approach recognises that consumers no longer interact with brands through a single touchpoint. Instead, they weave in and out of channels, from checking out a product review on YouTube, to viewing a product demonstration on TikTok, to making a purchase on an e-commerce platform, and even experiencing the product in-store.
The Challenge for Market Researchers
This omni-channel approach presents a significant challenge for market researchers: capturing the complete picture of the consumer buyer journey. The journey is no longer a simple path but a complex web of interactions influenced by a variety of factors, including social media influencers, peer reviews, in-store experiences, and more. Moreover, the rise of Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers, who are digital natives, has further complicated this landscape.
These generations are not only comfortable navigating multiple channels but expect brands to offer a seamless experience across all of them.
Embracing New Platforms for Consumer Research
To effectively capture these complexities, insights teams and researchers must embrace and leverage the latest technologies. This means adopting tools and methodologies that allow for asynchronous research - capturing data and insights from consumers in the moment through the use of their own mobile phone. These platforms should include:
Screen Recording for Online Shopping Behavior
By employing screen recording, researchers can capture how consumers interact with websites and apps, providing insights into decision-making processes, usability issues, and the effectiveness of online content.
Video for In-Store Experiences
Video technology enables the capture of in-store behaviours, allowing researchers to observe how consumers interact with products, navigate stores, and make purchasing decisions.
Video Diaries for Insights into Influences and Habits
Short video diaries offer a window into the daily lives of consumers, providing insights into how shopping behaviour is influenced by lifestyle, habits, and special occasions.
Platforms like Indeemo offer a deeper understanding of the consumer journey, capturing the nuances of behaviour across different channels and touchpoints. This approach not only enriches the data available to researchers but also enables a more nuanced analysis of consumer behaviour, leading to more effective strategies for engagement and conversion.
Conclusion
The consumer buyer journey of 2024 is characterised by its complexity, influenced by a proliferation of channels and the expectations of digital-native generations. For market researchers and consumer insights teams, this complexity presents both a challenge and an opportunity. By leveraging asynchronous research platforms, like Indeemo, researchers can capture a more comprehensive view of consumer behaviour. This, in turn, enables brands to design omni-channel experiences that meet the evolving needs and expectations of their customers, ensuring relevance and engagement in a rapidly changing market landscape.
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