Customer  behaviour research lets us understand the consumer and improve the offer, as well as its presentation so that it meets the consumer requirements and increases the sales.

The main research issues:

• purchase motives and loyalty toward products and the retailer,
• by-the-shelf behaviour of the consumer and a decision-making tree,
• price and promotional sensitivity of the customers,
• shoppers’ paths,
• shopping baskets.

The main techniques used in the shopper research:

• PAPI and CAPI – standard questionnaire interview (hard-copy questionnaires) or with the usage of palmtops with special software, performed before shopping, during shopping or after it is completed,
• Entry-Exit – a type of questionnaire research where the consumer is surveyed before and after shopping, in order to compare the declarations with the purchase decisions and find out about their reasons (loyalty toward brand vs. competitive promotions),
• Non-participating video observation – it offers a possibility of learning about involuntary and undisturbed consumer behaviour,
• Mystery Shopper – Help-me – a type of the Mystery Shopper technique where the subject of the research is the customer, not the store employee. This method allows to find out what the customer recommends to another one.