Market research, virtually speaking

Carmel's DesignVis builds simulated 3-D retail environments, so consumer-goods makers can study buying habits more cheaply

It wasn't so long ago that consumer-goods makers built fake grocery stores inside of warehouses and stocked them with realistic models of cereal boxes, household cleansers and shampoo. They then rounded up consumers, dozens, sometimes hundreds, paid them to go inside, and studied why they liked what they liked and bought what they bought.

It was all in the name of market research.

But that kind of research is expensive. Increasingly, consumer-goods companies, such as Procter & Gamble and General Mills, are turning to cheaper 3-D computer graphics.

They're hiring firms like Carmel's DesignVis to build simulated retail environments instead of building physical models of products and mock-ups of stores, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

'Companies have been doing research for as long as you can imagine,' said Rob Cheezum, founder of DesignVis. 'Now, doing it virtually is what's new.'

With a big-enough screen, it's possible to simulate an entire aisle or store down to the cracked linoleum floor and crinkled price tag on a can of deodorant. Thank the rapid advancement of 3-D computer graphics such as those seen in video games and movies.

'Can we replicate a retail setting in such a way that is so realistic that we can suspend disbelief within the consumer?' Cheezum asked. 'We need a consumer to believe that what they're looking at is real to get accurate data.'

Data is what matters to consumer-goods companies.

It's what they use to get their products placed in Wal-Mart, Target and other stores. It's also what they use to get the space to swath products in large, colorful displays and put them in coveted positions such as at the end of aisles, also called 'end caps.'

Every company that makes consumer goods is vying for the attention of retailers, Cheezum said. And they want retailers to believe they understand consumers better than anyone else -- including the retailers.

'Every time you walk into a store and you see an end cap or an aisle and where things are placed, all of those decisions are being thought of by the company that makes the products and the retailer that puts them in the store,' he said. 'They're all trying to maximize the opportunity for profit.'

Indeed, the retail environment is carefully orchestrated. But it hasn't always been that way.

In past decades, consumer-goods makers did more category-level studies, such as asking consumers what they thought about the packaging or pricing of a particular brand of cereal.

That has changed as stores have gotten bigger and begun to stock more items.

As big as Super Wal-Marts and Super Targets are, they're running out of space to put new products, said Ray Burke, director of the Customer Interface Laboratory at Indiana University. And stores can't get much bigger.

Retailers want to ensure their stores are easy to shop in, so the retail environment matters.

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Source: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
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