Methodology · Shopper Journey Research

The actual shop. The actual aisle. The actual moment of choice.

Shopper journey research in Indeemo captures the real path-to-purchase: the search, the shelf, the swap, the basket. Online, in-store, or both. On the participant's own phone, in the moment of choice.

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Woman using phone in supermarket - taking a video of the shelves.
Why Shopper Journey Research In Indeemo

Three things shopper journey research in Indeemo gives you that a survey can't

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In the aisle, not in retrospect

The hand reaching for the second-shelf brand. The pause at the fragrance section. The phone pulled out to compare prices. The actual moment of choice, captured as it happens.
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Online and in-store, in one study

Modern shopping spans channels. They Google in bed, screenshot in the train, walk the aisle on Saturday, finish on the app on Sunday. Indeemo captures the full path-to-purchase across digital and physical, in one study.

The moment after, as well as the moment of

The unboxing at home. The first use. The "would I buy this again." The journey continues past checkout, and the most expensive learnings happen after.

How It Works In Indeemo

A shopper journey study, end to end

Four stages, one platform: from plan to deliver.
Woman working at laptop.
01
Plan
Targeted screening on category, channel, and shopper type: primary shoppers, swing shoppers, lapsed buyers, competitor loyalists. Then design tasks for the full path: pre-shop intent, in-store or online capture, and post-shop reflection. Mix screen recording with selfie video, photo, and ratings as the journey demands.
02
Capture
Participants record the shop as it happens: selfie video at the moment of choice, photo of the shelf, screen recording of the app, OCR-readable receipt at the till. The actual journey, in their own hand.
Girl infront of laptop working.
03
Analyse
AI transcription across 30+ languages. Theme detection across shoppers. OCR on receipts to quantify swap behaviour. Cross-cohort comparison: heavy vs. light, online vs. in-store, market vs. market.
Group of people at a desk talking.
04
Deliver
Highlight reels of the moment of choice. Tagged clips of the swap. Heatmaps of where shoppers paused. Stakeholder access for category, brand, and shopper marketing teams.
Where Indeemo Fits

How Indeemo fits shopper journey research

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Dimension
Common approach
What Indeemo adds
Method
Path-to-purchase surveys, focus groups, and accompanied shops with a researcher walking beside the participant.
The shopper, alone, in the aisle, on their own phone, capturing the moment as it happens.
Cadence
The trip recalled after the fact, often in a session held some time after the shop.
Real-time capture across pre-shop intent, in-aisle pickup, app-based comparison, and till-side reflection.
Reach
Often focused on one channel per study: the in-store trip or the online journey.
Online and in-store in a single study, across digital and physical channels.
Output
A journey map built from what the participant recalls and what the researcher observes.
The actual basket, the actual reasoning, the actual moment of choice: the depth of video, the breadth of structured data.
Inside The Study

What a researcher actually configures

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Sample task brief

An in-aisle task across one shopping trip, recorded as a selfie video. "When you're next at [retailer], open the app and walk us through it. What you pick up, what you put back, what you check on your phone, what you decide on."

Sample pre-shop task

A trigger-based pre-shop intent task, captured as a short text response. "The night before your shop, send us a quick text response: what's on the list, what's open to switching, what's a non-negotiable."

Sample analysis output

Swap-moment pattern detection across the cohort. "7 of 14 shoppers swapped intended brand at shelf. Avg pause 22s. Top swap reason: price flag. Theme: pre-shop loyalty < in-aisle promotion responsiveness."

“The Indeemo platform was perfect for this seasonal shopping project. The app makes it easy for research participants to submit text, photos and video in real time, resulting in a huge volume of valuable content.”

Headshot of Graham Booth.
Graham Booth
Founder, Movement
Woman taking photo of the shelves at supermarket.
Who Runs Shopper Journey Research In Indeemo

Built for teams who win or lose at the shelf

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Brand & Marketing

Watch the brand show up in the actual moment of choice, or get swapped for the second-shelf option. The data that makes shopper marketing land.

For brand teams

Insights & Research

Replace path-to-purchase reconstruction with real-time capture. Bring stakeholders the actual journey, as it happened.

For insights teams

Product & Innovation

See how the pack performs against the competitor on the actual shelf, in the actual moment of choice.

For product teams
Related Methodologies

Adjacent methods researchers run alongside shopper journey research

Two friends catching the tube on their morning commute, with coffee in hand.
Methodology · Mobile Ethnography
In-context capture in their kitchens, on their commutes, on the way to the store.
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Methodology · In-Home Product Testing
See what happens after checkout, in the home, across the week of use.
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Methodology · Digital Experience Research
Watch the actual flow on the actual phone: the retailer app, the marketplace, the checkout.
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Shopper Journey Research, answered

How long should a shopper journey study run?
It depends on the question. Some studies field around a single shopping trip with pre and post tasks; others run across weeks for category-level or seasonal research. The platform paces to the study, so you can run shorter or longer to match whatever the project needs.
How many shoppers do I need?
For a single category in one market, 10 to 20 shoppers is typical. Multi-market or multi-segment studies (heavy vs. light, primary vs. secondary) scale from there to whatever the study needs, balancing depth per cohort with breadth across cohorts.
Can I capture both online and in-store shopping?
Yes. Screen recording captures online journeys (search, app, checkout). Selfie video and photo tasks capture in-store journeys (aisle, shelf, basket, till). The two can run together as a combined journey study, or you can run each channel on its own.
What about receipts and basket data?
Indeemo OCR can read receipts that participants photograph at the till, so you can quantify what they bought against what they intended. Captured data can be exported and combined with your own basket data outside the platform.
Can I run shopper studies across multiple markets and retailers?
Yes. Capture in 30+ languages with AI translation. Run multiple retailers in parallel, with cohort comparison built in.
How do you handle in-store privacy and other shoppers in the frame?
Capture etiquette and any in-store guidance are set by the study design: what you ask participants to do, what to avoid, when to put the camera down. Indeemo supports facial blurring of participants where the study requires it.
‍Is the data secure and consent-compliant?
Yes. Indeemo is ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified, GDPR-aligned, with EU and US data residency options. See Trust & Security for details.
What kind of analysis output do I get?
‍Researchers in Indeemo tag moments of choice and swap, track themes across the cohort, work with AI-detected patterns across channels, and build stakeholder-ready highlight reels for shopper marketing and category teams.

See shopper journey research in action.

Book a demo and we'll walk you through a real Indeemo shopper journey study, from pre-shop intent to in-aisle moment of choice.

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