How the Brain, Behavior, and Retail Environments Shape Decisions
Applied organization neuroscientist Soraya Shaw MSc and behavioral shopper insights expert Emilie Burrows explore the impact of habit formation, sensory triggers, and digital innovation on consumer decision-making.?
From in-store navigation to online scanning patterns, from the emotional pull of human interaction to the power of personalization, this conversation unpacks what really influences us at the point of purchase, and how brands can optimize their creative strategies to stand out.?
Here is a summary - links to full episode below!
Q: How much of a shopper's decision-making process is conscious versus subconscious??
Soraya: People hate thinking that everything is happening to them subconsciously, which the majority of everything is happening subconsciously, and that it pops into your cognitive brain, and we become aware of it. The reason it's subconscious is the brain, it's all about our own biases and the way that we perceive the world and the way that we have patterns in our brain and then your brain will make the decision, or you are making a decision, your mind is making the decision and then it pops into your conscious brain.?
I was reading an article the other day and people don't like the whole thought that so much happens subconsciously. We like to think that we're conscious creatures directing everything that we do.??
Emilie: I completely agree with Soraya that so much of the shopper behavior is in the subconscious, but it does for us vary by the type of retail environment. If you imagine going to a supermarket where you're shopping three or four times a week, then I would say that probably 80 to 90 % of that behavior is subconsciously controlled. If we were to get you thinking about it, you'd probably realize you take the exact same path around the store each and every time. You'll probably end up buying the same sort of products in your basket each and every time.??
The reason why the shoppers do that is because if you were to actively be shopping in that type of environment and making decisions about everything, you'd be in store for hours upon hours literally thinking, right, do I turn left or do I turn right? Do I want to make a decision about brand or price or pack format? Those decisions are all wrapped up in this kind of subconscious thinking.??
Soraya: When you're talking about walking around the store or picking it up, the brands you kind of go for that they're so ingrained in your brain to save energy, it will immediately default that because it's familiar. And that and that's why we have these habits. And that's actually why it's so hard to break habits.?
Emilie: That's the challenge actually, often brands and retailers will come to us for how they can break through to shoppers in this kind of very visually noisy environment where they are shopping so much on autopilot.???
Q: How do consumers process visual information differently online versus in store???
Emilie: It's probably worth saying first of all that actually some of the things that we do in terms of visual processing are very similar online versus in-store because we are still human beings and regardless of the channel that we're shopping in there are certain things that are easier for our brains to visually process. We might look at reviews and things online, but generally speaking, the majority of our visual attention will be on products and brands because we are looking for those simple visual cues.?
I think the difference between online shopping and shopping in a store is when you're in a store, you have the benefit of those huge packs stocked in big bays. So, it's quite easy for your brain to be able to deselect massive parts of a category or a fixture.??
Online, obviously it's totally different. We don't have that benefit of a massive bay of products. We are more reliant on the taxonomy that is provided for us on clicking through.???
Q: How can retailers use AI to enhance but not replace emotional and experiential aspects of shopping??
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Emilie: If technology is meeting a need and it's meeting a shopping behavior, then it absolutely has its role.??
I've seen examples where you can use AI to help you navigate in a store. You come in, you could type in, want to find, I don't know, soup. And then it would literally provide you with a little map and could tell you where to go, for example.??
Or even things like recipe cards, I can see having huge value in food category. So rather than just buying some vegetables, if you could use AI to say, well, have you thought about buying this with it that with it, and that will actually make a meal, you're providing the solution to the shopper rather than just a product.??
Soraya: AI is a really fascinating area to start getting into because the brain has such neuroplasticity, our brains are shaping all the time and changing. I'd be quite interested to see how people in this early adoption of AI work with it and say, it's been really useful and it's really helping my life and it's brilliant. But one thing is, as humans, what's very important to us is autonomy and having control, if there's any point that you feel that AI is telling you too much or bossing you around or putting you in front of things that you don't want, people will actually reject that because that goes against our motivations as human beings.???
Q: Talking about decision making, consumer decision making with increasing digital integration, AR shopping and AI recommendations, how is consumer decision making evolving??
Emilie: I think there's going to be more of an expectation that things will be personal for you. People will expect to have personalized deals and offers that are tailored for them and things that are relevant to them. We might see a slightly quicker decision-making process because AI might be able to help people narrow down their choices more quickly.??
Soraya: It lessens the cognitive overload. Making all these decisions is exhausting and actually not something we really want to do. So, it frees us up to actually do more of the things that we get pleasure from, that we get enjoyment from, that we get energy from, which I know just using AI recently, little just different things. It's like, God, it's just makes you want to laugh and smile and clap your hands and go, hallelujah, this is brilliant.??
Q: If there's one thing brands could do today to improve their creative effectiveness in retail, what would it be??
Emilie: Going back to the basics of what does the shopper need? How is my communication or my creative helping the shopper in some way? We see so many examples of shopper marketing and creativity that isn't necessarily reflecting the shopping environment or the need that it's trying to fulfill. And sometimes actually simple things are what are likely to work more effectively for shoppers.??
If you are in a category like milk for example, where shoppers are going to spend 10 seconds if you're lucky shopping that category, how effective is your communication likely to be in that type of shopping environment where people are in and out, they're very much in that kind of subconscious autopilot state of mind. You'll be lucky if they would read more than one word on a creative. Your creative should match that shopping style.???
Soraya: I was thinking about the consumer state. If you're making them feel relaxed, you know, not rushed, that you as though you've really understood the state that they're in. What you've done is you've just calmed it down and said, it's all okay, don't worry. You can just get on with everything. We've actually thought about what you need and how you need it and how we're going to deliver it for you.?
What an amazing discussion about how the brain, behavior and retail environments shape consumer decisions.?
If you’d like to listen to the full deep dive that covers emotional connections to brands, the clever use of AI instore and more, make sure to watch the full episode here.?