Safari Shopping filmé suivi d'un entretien individuel

The unconscious plays a significant role in consumption behaviors. During a conversation (whether in individual interviews or in groups), consumers share facts and opinions that seem important to them. Some details, which they consider anecdotal, may be relegated to the background, while others may stem from routines of which they are no longer even aware. When it comes to shopping, gestures or routine paths can clearly shift into the unconscious realm. To avoid this bias, we have developed filmed Safaris.

This approach unfolds in four phases. Let's consider the case of shopping in a hypermarket:

Phase 1: We ask the participant to specify which products they plan to buy (their shopping list).

Phase 2: We equip them with a GoPro attached to a chest harness. The footage captures their gestures, movements, and the products they handle very precisely. Once the GoPro is activated, the consumer goes through their shopping journey alone (and our experience shows that they quickly forget they are wearing the GoPro).

Phase 3: After shopping, the consumer is invited to a nearby room where we question them about their experience to understand what they remember from it. At this stage, we do not yet use the filmed material; we only delve into what the consumer has retained in their mind.

Phase 4: We watch the shopping journey footage with the consumer, probing all elements of interest, and uncover different behaviors they did not notice, which can nevertheless provide powerful insights. Reviewing the footage with the consumer allows us to prompt them to understand the mechanics behind these various behaviors, which are sometimes automatic and thus unconscious.

This methodology, of course, requires the express permission of the retail outlet. Our experiences with this approach have so far been implemented on behalf of large retail chains, which therefore control these permissions. For brands, such negotiations for permissions would certainly be necessary. Moreover, since the implementation of laws related to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the participating consumer is made aware of a document explaining the use of this material (principle of informed consent), and ESOMAR recommends that explicit signage be implemented at the entrance of the retail outlet, indicating that filming is in progress. With these provisions, the collected material can be used for analysis purposes provided it remains strictly confidential