ISSUE 4, 2016

IN THIS ISSUE

CHANNEL INSIGHTS
The retail landscape is ever evolving and, as it changes, shoppers habits change with it. Their shopping lists can
include everything from snacks to household goods to alcohol, and they have priorities in how they like to shop,
where they like to shop, and how much they are willing to spend. This issue delves into where, how, and why
shoppers make their trips to retail.
IN THIS EDITION OF THE CHECKOUT, YOU WILL LEARN:

Where are todays shoppers going to fulfill their

shopping lists and how frequently are they making
trips? (Read more on page 2.)
How are shoppers making retail channel decisions?
(Read more on page 3.)

Which product categories reign supreme in each

channel? (Read more on page 4.)

How do men and women compare in their shopping

habits? (Read more on page 6.)

powered by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research

MASS

63.9%

DRUG
DOLLAR

page

CONVENIENCE

CLUB

Shoppers Still Visit a Variety of Retailers

When it comes to shopping for everyday household
Daily items, which include food, consumer packaged goods, alcohol, and
Male
supplies, todays shoppers do not rely on one single
store. Most shoppers have an arsenal of retail channels that they
Weekly
Monthly
Shopper
Penetration
by
Channel,
Past
30
Days
10%
shop depending on their needs or their shopping lists. As seen in Figure 1, the top six retail channels have significantly high Female
Millennial
9%
shopper penetration, with almost all of them having at least two-thirds
of total shoppers visiting their channel in the previous Hispanic
8%
30 days.
7%

4%

DOLLAR

ve
n

lu

lla

ie

lu

lla
Do

0%

63.9%

ru
g

s
M
as

er
y
G

ro
c

e
nc
ie
ve
n
on
C

DRUG

Do

68.4%

GROCERY
MASS

ru
g

1%

2%

77.9%

10%
0%

OF SHOPPERS VISIT THE

CLUB CHANNEL WEEKLY

3%

M
as

92%

er
y

92.6%

20%

5%

ro
c

96.6%

30%

10.5%

6%

Figure 1. Shopper Penetration by Channel, Past 30 Days

40%

nc

50%

on

60%

Figure 2 shows us that up to 6.4% of shoppers

make a shopping trip somewhere daily, but its
no surprise that the majority of retail channels
see the most volume on a weekly or monthly
basis. As shoppers, weve been trained by
Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015, N = 1,242
Q: Thinking again about your everyday shopping needs (food, cleaning products, etc.),
retailers for years to come in weekly through
how often do you shop each channel? (Shopped at any time in last 30 days.)
the use of weekly coupons and promotional
specials. Despite urbanization and smaller households, we have an ingrained habit to shop weekly. 64.5% of shoppers visit
the grocery channel weekly, while 39.8% of shoppers make a weekly stop at mass. Shoppers are looking for more of a
one-stop shop. In addition, 20.9% of shoppers visit the drug channel weekly. This is a reflection of drug stores expanding
their core offerings to better fit todays shoppers, both in terms of lifestyle and household size.
CONVENIENCE

70%

CLUB

So who are these daily shoppers? Figure 3 is a breakout of different shopper groups who say they shop the top retail
channels daily. As seen below, the U.S. Hispanic group are frequent daily shoppers, with 9.6% of these shoppers going to
convenience stores daily and another 4.5% visiting the drug channel daily. Also, Millennial shoppers are making daily trips at
convenience (8%) and/or the mass channel (4.4%). Perhaps unsurprisingly, 6.8% of males make a daily stop at a c-store,
slightly higher than female shoppers (5.9%). However, overall, the majority of shoppers do not make daily shopping trips,
despite urbanization and the proliferation of product assortment at convenient retailers hoping to get fill-in trips.
Figure 2. Channel Frequency

Figure 3. Breakout of Daily Shoppers by Group

Daily
Weekly
Monthly

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

nv

Co

ce

n
nie

er

oc
Gr

as

ug

Dr

lla

Do

ub

Cl

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015, N = 1,242

Q: Thinking again about your everyday shopping needs (food, cleaning products,
etc.), how often do you shop each channel?

2016

CHANNEL INSIGHTS

Male
Female
Millennial
Hispanic

10%
9%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%

nv

Co

nc

ie
en

er

oc
Gr

as

ug

Dr

lla

Do

ub

Cl

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015,

N = 1,242
Q: Thinking again about your everyday shopping needs (food, cleaning
products, etc.), how often do you shop each channel? (Daily summary.)

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page

Price and Proximity Drive Channel Choice

There are many factors that influence shoppers decisions of where
and when to shop. Weve just seen that shoppers tend to make
fragmented choices when it comes to which channels they shop,
and this is further confirmed in our study results shown in Figure
4. Across all channels, shoppers primarily decided where to shop
based on how close or how convenient the channel was to them.
The next most important factor was where they could find the best
prices. These two factors reigned supreme at most retail channels,
except for club and drug channels. At club, shoppers were most
interested in finding the best price but were also interested in finding
quality products. Shoppers in the drug channel were looking for
convenience but also loyalty programs to reward them.

Close-by/
convenient
Offers best
price

12.3%

Has a loyalty
program

ub
Cl

r
lla
Do

Dr

as

er
ro
c

nc
ie
en
nv

ug

Last-minute
trip

Co

31.4%

Carries quality
products

23.5%

1
2 3
4
5
6
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 70%

Figure 4. Reasons for Shopping at a Channel

15.0%

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015, N = 1,242

Q: Thinking again about your shopping habits, what are the top three reasons for
shopping at this channel?

14%

OF SHOPPERS MADE A
CHANNEL SELECTION
BECAUSE OF RETAILER
LOYALTY PROGRAMS
Because we know that shopper behavior
can be influenced by time, we wanted to
see how last-minute shopping impacted
where shoppers went. As shown in Figure
5, the convenience channel won last-minute
shopping trips. Surprisingly, almost a third of
shoppers go to the dollar channel because
of a last-minute need. 23.5% of shoppers go
to the drug channel. Since dollar and drug
channels are often the easiest for shoppers
to get to and their smaller formats lead to
a faster trip, they are perfect for last-minute
trips. This could have interesting implications
from a retailer merchandising perspective,
knowing that shoppers 4.8%
are coming in with
emergency or unexpected needs and might
be looking for smaller pack sizes or quick
grab-and-go items or wanting to navigate
through the store as fast as possible.

Figure 5. Last-Minute Shopping

MASS

CONVENIENCE

53.8%

DOLLAR

31.4%

23.5%

DRUG

12.3%
GROCERY
CLUB
4.8%

15.0%

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015, N = 1,242

Q: Thinking again about your shopping habits, what are the top three reasons for shopping at this channel? (Last-minute trip summary.)

2016

CHANNEL INSIGHTS

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page

Product Categories Correlate to

Retail Channels
Next, we looked at categories. What are shoppers buying at which channels? We took 12 product groups and
asked shoppers which they were buying across retail channels. Weve broken them down into Figures 6 and 7,
which separate food and beverage categories from nonfood categories.
Figure 6. Food and Beverage Categories by Channel
80%
70%

Figure 7. Nonfood Categories by Channel

Convienience

Grocery

Mass

Drug

Dollar

Club

80%
70%

60%

60%

50%

50%

40%

40%

30%

30%

20%

20%

10%

10%

00%

00%

Fresh
Foods

2016

Breakfast Snacks Nonalcohol Prepacked Alcohol Candy/

Cereal
Beverages Meals Beverages Gum

Convienience

Grocery

Mass

Drug

Dollar

Club

Beauty/ Medicine/ Batteries Candy/ Household Household

Personal OTC
Gum Appliances Goods
Care

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015,

N = 1,143
Q: Now please think about your past purchases. What are the top three
categories/products you tend to buy most often at each channel?

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015,

N = 1,143
Q: Now please think about your past purchases. What are the top three
categories/products you tend to buy most often at each channel?

There are some familiar correlations in Figure 6. As

expected, fresh foods (70.5%) and breakfast cereal
(45.7%) are most regularly purchased at the grocery
channel. At convenience stores, shoppers are
most often buying snacks (54.2%) and nonalcohol
beverages (39.3%). But there was some surprising
food and beverage shopping at certain retail channels.
For example, 20% of shoppers purchased prepacked
meals at the club channel. Though shoppers
typically think of this channel as bulk-sizes-only,
if we refer back to Figure 2, 10.5% of shoppers are
visiting club stores weekly. This indicates that club
could be serving a different role for the shopper,
one that is outside of simply stocking up. If they
are buying prepacked meals at club, the club
channel could be growing into a staple for shoppers
to visit, similar to grocery, especially if a shopper
lives near a club store. In addition, if we consider the
product categories, shoppers might be treating the

drug channel more like convenience. As shown in

Figure 6, 18.5% of shoppers bought snacks at drug
and 17.8% purchased candy/gum. We also know
that nearly a quarter of shoppers (23.5%) go there
for last-minute trips.

CHANNEL INSIGHTS

When it comes to nonfood product categories,

household goods, medicine/OTC, and beauty/
personal care are huge drivers to retail channels.
Household goods are most popular at mass (53.7%)
and club (50.9%). Beauty/personal care wins almost
identically at drug and mass, 47.9% and 47.8%,
respectively. Surprisingly, batteries are the secondmost-purchased nonfood category at dollar. And
theyre the third-most-purchased category overall.
While shoppers are frequently making stops into retail,
they could be making category purchase decisions
based on convenience; they are already in one store,
so they might as well pick up some items if it means
they dont have to make another stop.

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page

Frequent Trips Lead to Smaller Baskets

Figure 8. Basket Spend by Channel

CONVENIENCE

91.3%

5.4%
2.1%
0.8%
0.2%

GROCERY
21.2%
25.4%
29.9%
19.8%

2.9%

Less than
$25
$25$49
$50$99

MASS

3.1%

17.9%
27.3%
32.7%
18.6%

$100$199
$200$499

DRUG
6.3%
1.4%
0.5%

66.0%

25.7%

DOLLAR

87.8%

8.9%
1.9%
0.7%
0.5%

CLUB

10.3%
19.5%
24.3%
7.2%

37.7%

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015,

N = 1,238
Q: Please think about your typical shopping trip in each one of these
channels. On average, how much do you spend?

2016

CHANNEL INSIGHTS

Weve already looked at how frequently

shoppers make trips to retail. So what does
this mean for basket size? Figure 8 shows
that few shoppers are making trips with
$100 or more in their carts. Instead, many
shoppers have a basket value less than
$25 per trip. However, if they are making
more frequent trips with smaller baskets,
the overall value might be similar to what
shoppers have spent historically. Smaller
baskets are especially prevalent at those
channels to which shoppers turn for lastminute shopping, such as convenience,
dollar, and drug. Its interesting that at club,
37.7% of shoppers say they spend less
than $25 as well. This could be attributed
to shoppers purchasing prepacked meals
at club (as shown in Figure 6). Or perhaps
shoppers who live near or drive by a club
store are stopping by just to pick up dinner.
In this retailer of bulk sizes, this is a shift
in shopper behavior to buying only a few
items instead of stocking up. As expected,
shoppers usually spend between $25 and
$99 at mass and grocery. This could be
because, at mass, shoppers are more likely
to shop across multiple categories of CPG,
and, at grocery, the rising costs of food
prices are driving up basket ring accordingly.

87.8%

OF SHOPPERS SPEND
LESS THAN $25 ON A TRIP
TO THE DOLLAR CHANNEL

powered by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research

page

Men Are More Frequent Weekly Shoppers

We know that men and women think differently and
that they navigate stores differently, but what else is
different about their shopping habits? To begin with,
men go shopping more frequently. As shown in Table 1,
from a weekly shopping perspective, weve found that
more men than women make a weekly trip at nearly
every retailer included in this study, with the exception
of mass and dollar. This behavior is especially evident
at convenience, where 21.8% of men make a weekly
stop, compared to 16.2% of women, and also at club,
where 12.1% of men go weekly, compared to just 9%
of women. In addition, more men are making weekly
stops at drug stores (23.1%), which could speak to a
common shopping style for men: quick, grab-and-go,
mission-focused trips.

Table 1. Weekly Shopping Trips

Grocery

Total

Men

Women

64.5%

67.6%

61.4%

39.8%

36.5%

43.1%

Drug

20.9%

23.1%

18.8%

Convenience

19.0%

21.8%

16.2%

16.6%

16.3%

16.9%

10.5%

12.1%

9.0%

Mass

Dollar
Club

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015,

N = 1,242
Q: Thinking again about your everyday shopping needs (food, cleaning
products, etc.), how often do you shop each channel? (Weekly summary.)

67.6%

OF MEN MAKE A WEEKLY

SHOPPING TRIP AT GROCERY

Table 2. Monthly Shopping Trips

Drug

Total

Men

Women

39.9%

38.4%

41.5%

36.8%

35.0%

38.6%

Club

30.8%

30.3%

31.2%

Dollar

24.8%

20.6%

28.9%

17.4%

15.6%

19.1%

17.1%

16.0%

18.3%

Mass

Grocery
Convenience

Source: The Integer Group | M/A/R/C Research, September 2015,

N = 1,242
Q: Thinking again about your everyday shopping needs (food, cleaning
products, etc.), how often do you shop each channel? (Monthly summary.)

2016

CHANNEL INSIGHTS

If we look at monthly shopping habits across genders,

we will see that women are far more likely to make
monthly shopping trips. Table 2 demonstrates that
women are more likely to make a monthly stop at
every retail channel. This is especially true at dollar,
where 28.9% of women go monthly, compared to
20.6% of men. Is this because women are thinking
longer term when it comes to their shopping trips than
men? Or do men just prefer to buy products more
immediately? If we look at purchase drivers, 55% of
women make last-minute trips, and, most often, they
turn to the dollar or drug channel. Comparatively, 52%
of men make last-minute trips, which usually take
them to convenience stores. Men and women equally
choose retail channels because they are close-by and
convenient. While men are more likely to choose a
retailer because it carries quality products, women are
more swayed by loyalty programs. When it comes to
spending, there are no statistical differences between
genders and baskets by retail channel.

powered by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research

page

Implications for Brands and Retailers

2016

1.

Frequency is the new loyalty.

As shoppers continually fragment their overall shopping across different retail channels,
it continues to be tough for retailers to gain loyalty. By and large, shoppers are making
their channel choices based on convenience and price, even if it ultimately means making
more stops. This means that frequency should now be a priority. Truly driving a point of
distinction through service, product assortment, store experience, and fair pricing will
become increasingly important to give shoppers a reason to come back more often.

2.

Daily shoppers might have different needs.

Consider what drives those daily shoppers to specific channels and how that retail
channel fits into their lifestyles. As convenience stores bring in more fresh foods and drug
continues to expand its products, shoppers will see even more opportunities to come in
daily. Its the store experience and product assortment that will increase frequency and
keep them coming back.

3.

Leverage the last-minute shopping mind-set for merchandising.

Todays shoppers are going to some unexpected retail channels for their emergency
fill-in trips. This last-minute or emergency mind-set will influence the products they
look for and which ones they purchase. Consider merchandising for this type of
shopping with grab-and-go items and curated solutions and bringing in navigation
aids to help shoppers quickly find what they are looking for. This will reinforce the
shoppers perception that they can find what they want for immediate needs.

4.

Embrace prime product categories.

There are some product-category and retail-channel associations that might never go
awaylike grocery stores and breakfast cereal. By leveraging the product categories that
shoppers buy most, we can connect those shoppers to other product categories. This
could be through cross-merchandising programs, adjacent shelf placement, or scale
programs that will increase awareness, inspire impulse purchases, and grow baskets.

5.

Consider gender habits in Pre-Tail tactics.

Men and women exhibit different habits, so there is opportunity to drive conversion, but
each will need a different approach. Since men tend to shop more frequently, consider
leveraging time-sensitive and location-based coupons or promotions to increase baskets.
Women, who typically shop on a monthly basis, might be open to buying one more
product, in response to a cents-off-with-minimum-purchase tactic.

CHANNEL INSIGHTS

powered by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research

page

The Integer Group is one of the

worlds largest promotional, retail, and
shopper marketing agencies, and a key
member of Omnicom Group Inc. Integer
lives at the Intersection of Branding and
Selling, driving transaction and creating
seamless brand experiences for shoppers.
Integer works wth a broad set of clients
across several categories including retail,
beverage, consumer packaged goods,
telecommunications, home and shelter,
automotive aftermarket, and power
sports. Integer has approximately 1,200
employees across the globe including
locations in Africa, Asia, Australia,
Europe, the Middle East, and North
and South America.

The Integer Group

Craig Elston
EVP, Insight & Strategy
celston@integer.com
7245 West Alaska Drive
Lakewood, CO 80226
USA

Visit us at www.ShopperCulture.com

M/A/R/C Research is a brand

development firm dedicated to helping
clients create, evaluate, and strengthen
their brands. Our teams design and
execute qualitative and quantitative,
traditional, and online solutions while
adhering to a client-service ethic built on
being easy to work with and delivering
what is promised. Our core competency
is measuring attitudes and behaviors to
accurately explain and predict market
share, revenue, and bottom-line impact
of a clients actions. We help our
clients address consumer, channel,
and B2B marketing issues to launch
better products and services, attract
and retain valuable customers, and
build stronger brands. Our proven,
marketing-issue-focused solutions
support clients brand-building efforts.

M/A/R/C Research
Randy Wahl
EVP, Advanced Analytics
Randy.Wahl@MARCresearch.com
7850 North Belt Line Road
Irving, TX 75063
USA
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The Checkout is based on a nationally representative

survey of 1,200 U.S. adults conducted monthly by
M/A/R/C Research. Please contact us to learn more
about the data we collect or additional analysis.

2016 by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research. All rights reserved.
The data contained in this report may be reproduced in any form as long as the data is cited from The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research.
www.ShopperCulture.com.

2016

CHANNEL INSIGHTS

powered by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research