10 Different Kinds of Shopping Trips

Why do we go shopping?

A recent white paper by Jim Barnes of BMAI Strategy describes 10 different scenarios for shopping at the mall, each with different goals.

1. Recreational: where the outing and entertainment choices are what's important
2. Purposive: planned and with a goal in mind to buy something specific
3. Social: spending time with others is more important than actually buying things
4. Reconnaissance: looking for inspiration or 'what's new'
5. As a Treat: driven by a mood and desire to reward oneself
6. As a Quest: looking for a 'great find' is the end result
7. As Entertainment: people watching and window shopping
8. Word-of-Mouth: following up directly on the advice of others
9. Event-Based: a subset of 'purposive trips' where an occasion drives the search and purchase
10. "Going-to-the-Mall": the place itself is the attraction.  Like Starbucks, it is the "third place"

Many of these types also relate to individual retail stores and on-line shopping.  And in all cases the information needs of the consumer are very different. As a result a mix or blend of content is required to help them decide.  For those trips where transacting is actually the goal some are emotional (Reward) and some are promotional (Quest) while others are informational (Purposive) or communal (Word-of-Mouth).

So in addition to thinking about channel and device as part of our communication blueprint we need to look how we can serve the right blend of content in these situations.   And yes, we have to figure out intent and context first.