Client Context
A major paper products company sought to refresh its understanding of how shoppers make in‑store and online purchase decisions as category dynamics and shopping behaviors continued to evolve.
The Business Challenge
The client’s foundational shopper insights had been developed several years earlier and were no longer sufficient for guiding current commercial decisions. While traditional research approaches had delivered directional understanding in the past, the client wanted to explore how behavioral science principles could surface deeper, more instinctive drivers of shopper behavior.
Capabilities Applied
- Shopper Insights
- Behavioral Science–Informed Research Design
- Mixed‑Method Research
- Qualitative & Observational Research
Approach
We started by conducting a cross-functional workshop, providing background on behavioral economics principles to ensure everyone had the same understanding of behavioral science and to discuss how we’d leverage those techniques in our work. Through an approach that leveraged in-person shop-along research and an online bulletin board, we focused on understanding the System 1 drivers – the unconscious, non-rational, emotional levers to behavior – at play for these shoppers. This methodology included a mix of observation, direct questioning, and question protocols to gather a comprehensive perspective of Systems 1 and 2.
Impact
Findings were synthesized and presented through a behavioral science lens, highlighting how specific cognitive biases influenced shopper decision‑making across channels. Insights reporting clearly differentiated System 1 and System 2 learnings and showed how each contributed to the overall behavioral story. Recommendations were outlined using the EAST model (a way to frame “nudges” or interventions that alter choice architecture), translating insights into clear, behaviorally informed actions the client could apply to shopper strategy, messaging, and activation.
