Category shoppers
Buyers screened by recent purchases, shopping frequency, and channel use, from routine trips to considered purchases.
Retail, e-commerce & shopper
What Happens Between Shelf, Phone, and Checkout
A shopper may notice a product in the aisle, compare it on a phone, and finish the purchase in an app. Russell follows the handoffs through shop-alongs, store visits, online tasks, and quantitative measurement.
Match the Sample to the Shopping Behavior
Screening may use category purchase, trip purpose, channel mix, or a seller's role on the marketplace.
Omnichannel customers
Customers who use stores, websites, and apps during the same purchase, including the handoffs between channels.
Marketplace sellers & trade partners
Third-party sellers, franchisees, and channel partners involved in assortment, supply, operations, and platform decisions.
Lapsed & competitive shoppers
People who stopped shopping with the retailer or chose a competitor, recruited to explain what regular customers may never encounter.
Decisions at the Shelf, on the Site, and Across Both
The useful setting depends on where the decision breaks: aisle, site search, app, pickup, return, or seller onboarding.
01
Assortment & category strategy
Which products, formats, and price tiers belong in the assortment and what role the category should play.
02
Store & site navigation
How shoppers find and compare products, and where layout, signage, filters, or search cause trouble.
03
Messaging & experience
Which claims shoppers notice, where the experience causes trouble, and which changes matter most.
Shop-Alongs, Concept Comparison, and Seller Tracking
The public cases use shop-alongs, a virtual coffee-bar comparison, and a B2B seller tracker.
In-store navigation for a beauty retailer
Shop-alongs in several markets documented why customers visited a health and beauty retailer, the paths they took, where they became confused, and how signage helped. The retailer used the findings to plan changes to navigation and communications.
Read the case studyChoosing a self-serve coffee bar format
An online study compared four virtual self-serve coffee bar setups. One had the strongest effect on likely store visits and perceptions without reducing high-margin specialty orders from the barista.
Read the case studyDid marketplace changes reduce seller barriers?
The tracker measured whether marketplace changes reduced the prevalence and importance of joining barriers across several seller audiences.
Read the case studyMore Retail and Shopper Research
Where Is the Shopping Experience Breaking?
Start with the category, channel, shopper group, and observed breakdown.
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