Why brand growth begins with knowing shoppers’ deep motivations

Ipsos’ Virginia Armas explains how marketers and brand managers can uncover the real reasons people shop, and how they can channel that understanding into opportunities for growth.

Why brand growth begins with knowing shoppers’ deep motivations
The author(s)
  • Virginia Armas Senior qualitative strategist in Ipsos’ Understanding Unlimited practice
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What the Future: Shopping
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People tend not to spend for spending’s sake. Learning the foundational reasons that people shop can help marketers and managers understand whether they’re meeting their customers’ needs — and channel that knowledge into products and retail experiences that keep them coming back.

It’s one thing to appreciate that emotions shape consumer behavior and quite another to understand how. Using Ipsos’ proprietary Censydiam framework, marketers can deconstruct consumer motivations into four key quadrants — functional characteristics, social identity, emotional benefits and personality — and uncover the complex ways they interact and intersect.

To develop a people-centric approach, brands must take the time to understand shoppers beyond demographics and surface-level attributes. But the rewards are great: A holistic understanding can help brands craft products that meet overlapping needs and create meaningful  retail experiences that drive growth and build loyalty.

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The author(s)
  • Virginia Armas Senior qualitative strategist in Ipsos’ Understanding Unlimited practice

Society