GfK SA has launched its 'Consumer Journey' solution

By calibrating clients' POS data — which reveals what consumers buy as well as when and where they make their purchase — with actionable consumer insights, GfK Consumer Journey enables brands to understand who their purchasers are as well as how and why they make their decisions. This gives insights, according to GfK, that are needed to drive higher levels of return on investment from marketing, advertising, product and retail strategies.

"Brands and retailers in the technical goods and durables markets need to understand how consumers research and shop offline and online, from purchase trigger to point of sales in order to create winning category, brand and marketing strategies," says Nicolet Pienaar, commercial lead at GfK South Africa. "GfK Consumer Journey enables them to explain shopper behaviour and map the consumer's triggers and decision-making processes to the final purchase."

By bringing brands closer to their customers and allowing them to understand the story of a customer's purchase, GfK Consumer Journey intends to questions such as:

• What is my consumer's path to purchase?
• Which online and offline touchpoints are most important?
• Where and how should I approach consumers in each phase of their purchase journey?
• What is the impact of each touchpoint on the purchase?
• What are the triggers for and barriers to purchase?
• Where do I lose clients in the customer journey?
• Who are the buyers of a certain product or brand?

The solution strives to address the needs of the technical goods and consumer durables sectors, including IT, major domestic appliances (MDA), small domestic appliances (SDA), printer, telecommunications and consumer electronics.

"These categories are coming under pressure from saturating demand, shorter product life cycles, increasing competition and cautious consumer spending," says Pienaar. "Day-to-day business often does not leave enough time or budget for ad-hoc surveys to get answers to key business questions." 

"The multi-layered approach we use in GfK Consumer Journey gives brands an omnichannel view of customers' shopping journey, enabling them to optimise their strategies, based on data that is tracked in an ongoing basis," concludes Pienaar. 

For more information visit www.insights.gfk.com.