Consumers are under ever closer scrutiny as the industry strives to know exactly what will make them spend more, keeping armies of researchers in business. Helen Gregory reports Ever get the feeling you're being watched? It might not be your imagination. Just as you're biting into that chocolate bar, a researcher notes down how you eat it and what you do with the wrapper. This intense observation is increasingly common as suppliers and retailers vie for share of stomach. They, along with research companies, are coming up with new and more intensive ways of studying shoppers. Not only will they come and poke around your cupboards, they look set to start videoing your homelife too. Research has moved on from the 1960s when TV companies first started using "dustbin audits" to track what shoppers ate and drank by picking through used wrappers in a bid to prove to advertisers their campaigns were doing the job. Now, researchers are checking up on where, how, and what we eat and drink ­ in the street, at home and at railway stations, even becoming house guests to really get under shoppers' skins. It is standard practice for companies to buy in data studying thousands of households, to hold focus groups and one-to-one interviews. But as the market for new products grows ever tougher, everyone has had to raise their game. According to one weary category researcher working on NPD: "If we didn't do all this research, more products would fail." Loyalty cards aside, more consumers are being targeted for personal information and thousands are happy to spend hours in darkened rooms with researchers, or even to give up part of their everyday lives scanning food. Taylor Nelson Sofres is just one of the research companies supplying companies desperate for a handle on 21st century habits. It is even expanding its research base from 10,000 to 15,000 households who scan their shopping each week in a bid to satisfy data-hungry customers, as well as also quizzing people on the kind of media they watch and read in order to build up a better picture of buying habits and values. Ed Garner, TNS Superpanel communications director, says there is more pressure to glean even greater detail from consumers, most of whom are happy to oblige. He says roughly 80% continue in the programme each year. Superpanel members get points which they can redeem in a gift catalogue of non food products ­ carefully chosen not to skew the research results. "The less you disturb people the better the results are," he asserts. "You don't want to be stopped with a clipboard in the street ­ it's better if the research is kept in the background." But he foresees a time in the future when shoppers will have to do even less to have their habits monitored ­ possibly by being scanned as they walk through the door with the bags of shopping. According to Julian Bond, international new product development director at market research company Research International, companies are squeezing research into a smaller time frame in their rush to get new products and brand extensions on the shelves. The company visits consumers door-to-door handing out freebies and asking for comments on new products to gauge potential response. Bond says most are naturally curious and happy to help if they get free products but admits that people tend to "over-state" or praise products. "They sometimes think they might get more free things if they're nice about it, but we've learnt to calibrate the answers. If 20% of people say they'll buy a new product, 10% probably actually will." He adds that this kind of number-crunching is still important for companies, which will pull a launch if the volumes don't look big enough. "You need touchy-feely research but you also need hard numbers to help predict volumes." Along with this plethora of sales figures, more in-depth analysis comes regularly via qualitative research. But it's not just a chat round a table nowadays ­ or focus groups as they're called. Research is now delving deeper into our psyches, according to the Association of Qualitative Research. Spokesman Anne Whalley says this kind of research is on the increase. "The very fact that it's being used by virtually every major manufacturer reflects its value," she asserts. "Companies are getting more competitive and need to get an edge." But Whalley admits that the focus group method is not foolproof as some sectors of the population do not want to take part, which is why other methods are increasingly used, such as face-to-face interviews on a more ad hoc basis. Moderators ­ mostly hired from agencies ­ who take focus group sessions are trained to be impartial to root out people's true feelings, analysing what they say as well as what they mean. And cash incentives ­ about £20-£30 for a couple of hours' work ­ usually help brings those feelings to the surface. So what kind of people give up their time to discuss the meaning of Spam? Cleaner Dorinda Gossage is a veteran of a dozen focus groups who is not phased by one-way mirrors and says the money is a welcome incentive. She sees her participation as a good evening out, complete with wine and sandwiches, and has discussed a diverse range of subjects ­ from cheese to Woolworth shops ­ while her four children have also spent a day at a hotel talking about Coca-Cola. Gossage originally became involved through a friend who runs a market research agency and has even been accompanied to the supermarket by a soup company keen to understand her buying habits. She reasons: "I'm an average person with four kids and I think that's why they like me. "It's a relaxed atmosphere and I enjoy it. I'm a housewife and a cleaner and no-one normally listens to me, but in these situations, they take me seriously." Gossage says taking part in the groups has made her more aware of advertising and marketing issues, but is convinced they have not affected her buying habits. "I did one on Benecol but it wouldn't encourage me to buy it ­ it's too expensive." For some, however, there is still the issue of how pertinent this information is ­ gleaned as it is in an artificial environment. To this end, 20 families in the UK, in Spain, Germany, Italy and France are to be filmed eating, shopping and just getting on with their lives in a bid to understand consumers' psyches. Researchers will stay for two days at a time in each house, integrating themselves so that they become an extended member of the family. They will get paid £70-£100 a day for their trouble. Siamack Salari came up with the idea which will result in a web site showing edited video clips of the families' lives. About 300 clips will go online from the 20 UK homes each month, with commentary and extra data flagged up. The initiative labelled Everyday Lives went live last week (January 1) and Salari has plans to extend it in Asia in the next six months. "It will allow companies to get closer to their consumers and get a better understanding of how products and brands fit into their lives," he promises. Salari believes the results will be more genuine than research gleaned in the more artificial environment of research groups. "There's an enormous difference between what people say and what they actually do. This way the real them comes out. "There's so much research being put on to people's desks, but companies are becoming further and further removed from consumers. We want to get closer to real people. No amount of quantitative data will help you understand what people's needs are before they are able to express them." With all this extra information, it's a wonder that manufacturers don't know everything about consumers, allowing them to produce the perfect product. "Far from it," admits Chris Haskins, head of category insight at Britvic. "We're running to stand still." The soft drinks manufacturer employs 11 full-time people in its research division and buys in extra data, too. Britvic spends more than ever before on finding out what makes customers tick. "We get almost too much information now," acknowledges Haskins. "It's overload. Most of our effort and time is spent on getting together analysis of this information. It's no problem getting hold of it, it's what to do with it when you get it!" But he acknowledges that years of experience mean that at least he knows they are targeting the right people now. "Software nowadays enables you to more quickly and effectively make a sophisticated analysis. "Now we want to understand how people think. The consumer has so much more knowledge and is so savvy, which doesn't help." Fellow research boss Anthony Robson, the marketing manager at Eden Vale, says the cumulative effect of his eight years of experience with the company means focus group research simply reinforces previous findings. He calls it a "pragmatic approach" made easier by the fact that shoppers know the score and find focus groups a familiar concept. The company now works with individual supermarkets like Sainsbury to test products before they are rolled out. This means they don't have to do exhaustive new product development research, and retailers get an exclusive product for the trial period. Sharing data with retailers as part of category management can also save on doubling up of researchers. But research documents are also important as a way of trying to pin down those all-important future trends. "Sales data is all about what happened last month. We want to know what will happen in the future and no amount of focus groups will tell you that," says Haskins. Trips to continental stores are often more use to the firm nowadays as a way of picking up on trends. "Research is great when it works, but no use when it doesn't ­ although you can usually discover where you went wrong ­ it can be the questions you ask," he adds wryly. Supermarket chains also make sure they keep a finger on the shopper's pulse and don't just work with suppliers on category management initiatives. They, too, study consumers and are looking for more sophisticated methods to do it. Even the great doyen of retailing Marks and Spencer is getting in on the act. Until recently, it was notorious for not listening to suppliers and for being overconfident about its ability to know what its customers wanted without asking them. That led to falling public interest and slumping profits and its whole rebranding exercise is an attempt to understand ­ and pander to ­ shoppers. Somerfield always likes to think of itself as on the ball and has started conducting anthropological' visits to shoppers' homes as well as accompanying them on trips to the store, which market research controller Glynis Jones says has been "very insightful". "We studied 30 households around the country, rooted around in the bathroom, and discovered lots about them ­ even if they had a doily toilet roll cover," she says. Researchers took photos of cupboards and fridges which Jones says was then used to cross-reference quantitative research. Somerfield also trialled an instore scheme whereby shoppers were studied while they went round a store. Everything from how long they looked at items, what they picked up and what direction they took to shop was recorded and analysed. The chain is now deciding whether to try the study again, and has also tried getting Somerfield staff and consumers together in focus groups to discuss initiatives, which Jones believes proved useful. "Information from loyalty card data can be overwhelming ­ you can be drowned in it, and we don't miss that. But I think this personal kind of research is going to be more common and important in the future," says Jones. "It helps bring people to life." Supermarket managers are often at the receiving end of much of this information, all done in the name of empowerment. Their own sales figures, as well as other stores' figures, cross their desk daily. As one store manager says wryly: "My company is bad enough, but it was even worse when I worked for Asda - it seemed never-ending." According to many managers, no amount of sales figures can truly represent the fickle nature of shoppers. They know that sense, logic or past shopping preferences often don't come into it when consumers are faced with an eye catching display. Most believe that more money spent in store on point of sale and merchandising material is a better way of changing habits. Jonathan Smith of Axis Management Consulting sums it up neatly. "A lot of companies don't use market research in any significant way, or they don't apply it properly, or it is not focused enough. "Market research companies will try to flog as much information as they can, but there isn't the time available in most companies to deal with it all. "Often the only people research is good for is the market research industry." At the end of the day, the research data is being gleaned only from those people willing to help ­ a very small percentage. And despite the mountains of paperwork across everyone's desk, no amount of number crunching and probing of willing shoppers can reveal the future for products, categories or markets. Consumers are fickle and life has a funny way of conspiring against big business by throwing up nervous shareholders, problems with sourcing and changing tastes to put spanners in the works. It's like searching for the retail holy grail ­ and the hunt's only just started. {{COVER FEATURE }}