Do People Still Go to The Stores?

Although the penetration of online shopping has been accelerated due to the pandemic, shoppers still prefer to make their purchases inside an actual store as research finds.

Based on Nielsen Consumer Media View for Q4-2021 that monitors shopper behaviour in retail stores, the percentage of shoppers who still visit modern trade stores in the past one month, remains stable at around 69% where strategic location remains number one factor in choosing which store to visit. Even taking into consideration the government's restrictions during the pandemic, they still opt to visit modern trade stores when it comes to shopping for their groceries.

Another recent survey also confirms the Nielsen’s finding.  According to the survey conducted by The Trade Desk and YouGov, Indonesians are still eager to spend time and money outside the home on shopping and dining. Seven in 10 are planning to shop in-store, and the top five product categories where shoppers still prefer to buy in-store are groceries, home and living, motors, home appliances and baby & kids.  

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Due to the psychological element of the pandemic, our survey shown that shoppers tend to reduce their shopping duration with average 39 minutes per visit. This is considered shorter compared to pre-pandemic where shoppers could spend more than 60 minutes in super and hyper format.  

Even with shorter duration, interestingly 75% of shoppers are still making their purchase decision inside the store and only 25% stick with their pre-planned shopping list. This finding remains consistent during the last 2 years which become an opportunity for brands to grab shopper attention in-store. We also found that during pandemic, shoppers are getting more alert and attentive to any signages and brandings inside the store as they are concerned for any relevant announcement or promotion. This will increase the effectiveness of any in-store activities from the brands.

Brands might want to consider utilizing relevant touch points inside the store to get shoppers attention while they are visiting the store. For instance, 9 out of 10 shoppers are listening to announcement or promotion info from in-store radio while at least 80% shoppers are aware with branding in the shelf area where the product is located.

Despite pandemic, physical retail store is still an important venue to visit by shoppers as it provides much better shopping experience and product variants compared to online.

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