Get out of the building: why in-store market research beats any spreadsheet
The most useful market research I did last week was not a spreadsheet or a survey, it was a day in Cambridge on the shop floor. I spent it with Meena and Mahera, the mother-and-daughter team behind AuraLai, a beautiful brand on a mission to redefine motherhood, walking the city's retailers together. It was a good reminder that real insight lives in the real world. E-commerce brand, AuraLai sells elevated breastfeeding covers and nursing necessities from pregnancy to postpartum, so a day like this matters even more: when you have no physical store of your own, you never get to stand quietly beside a customer and watch them decide, so you have to go and find those moments where they happen.
Two things make a day like this so valuable. The first is looking properly at the shop floor: which packaging actually stops a shopper, how the ranges are merchandised, what imagery brands use, and what works and what does not. The second, and the one people skip, is talking to the staff. The team in John Lewis could not have been more helpful, and shop-floor staff are a goldmine, because they hear what customers ask for, what they bring back, and what they wish the shop stocked. Fifteen minutes of genuine curiosity with someone who serves your customer every day will teach you more than a month of guessing.
There was a bigger takeaway too. Central Cambridge has surprisingly few retailers dedicated to maternity, baby and children's products, and a gap like that is not just an observation, it is an opportunity for someone brave enough to fill it. So here is what this means for you: take yourself a store-safari. Go where your customers shop, study the shelves like a competitor would, talk to the people behind the till, and notice what is missing. You will come home with sharper positioning, better packaging ideas, and sometimes a gap in the market with your name on it.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is in-store market research?
In-store market research is learning about your customers and competitors by spending time in physical shops: studying how products are packaged and merchandised, watching how shoppers behave, and talking to retail staff. For ecommerce brands with no shop of their own, it is one of the few ways to observe real buying decisions as they happen.
How can an ecommerce brand do in-store research?
Plan a store-safari: choose the shops your customers actually use, and go in with a clear eye. Study which packaging stops shoppers, how ranges are displayed and priced, and what sits at a child's height. Then talk to the staff about what customers ask for, buy and return. Take photos and notes, and compare several shops so patterns emerge.
What should you ask retail staff during store research?
Ask what customers most often request, what sells well and what gets returned, which questions come up again and again, and what they wish they could stock but cannot. Shop-floor staff serve your customer every day, so a few genuine, curious questions will surface insight you could never get from a spreadsheet.
If you would like a hand planning a store-safari or prefer to be taken on a guided store tour, that is exactly the kind of thing we do at The Nest. Just get in touch.
The Nest News lands every Tuesday: three insights shaping maternity, baby and children's products, and the actions you can take. Sign up at thenest.uk.com
Build BETTER. Grow CONSCIOUSLY.
Comments