The 5W’s to help you drive purchase decision making

As the on-trade industry re-emerges from a challenging 2021, brands in the drinks sector are having to adapt to changes in consumer purchasing habits fuelled by Covid-19.

To achieve a competitive advantage in the on-trade industry, drinks brands must look more closely than ever to uncover not just ‘what’ is happening in the market, but ‘why’ it is happening.

It’s important to understand the insights behind changes to consumer purchase decisions, along with the macro-level factors that have driven these changes.

Brands need to reflect and learn the lessons of the past 18 months to understand how people engage with their brand and discover which elements have the most influence on consumer behaviour and decision making. The principle sounds simple enough and it’s certainly not new. By delving deeper into ethnographic understanding, businesses have access to a range of techniques to achieve this.

It’s about helping to ensure brands remain relevant, as audiences’ expectations change and evolve. Our 5 W’s framework acts as a pillar to ensure that the work delivered has true impact.

• Who are your customers? Who is choosing the competition over your brand?
• Why are they considering, buying, and drinking your product? Why are they not? What are the drivers and barriers?
• Where and when are they purchasing and consuming it? What is deemed as the right moment, and why is this?
• What is the competitive landscape for your drink brands?
• Which point of sale work within the context of your brand –which are noticed by customers, which work for bar staff?

Once the ‘why’ is outlined, we can help businesses identify if there is a performance gap between their brand versus competitors from a consumer point of view.

This is where behavioural research comes in – helping to shape outputs and give brands practical guidance on maximising the effectiveness of point of sale and other activity, ultimately encouraging consumer purchases.

Behavioural principles and sensory guidance can be applied to areas such as visual merchandising, marketing communications and tone of voice, to help brands stand out and drive consumer action.

It’s important to understand the insights behind changes to consumer purchase decisions, along with the macro-level factors that have driven these changes. As the hospitality sector re-strengthens, brand owners in the drinks sector who can best optimise the position of their brand to their target consumer will be best placed to capitalise on new audiences as well as retain their loyal customers.

For more information on how we can help brands inform strategy, please get in touch.