The purchase intent score is measured through Instantly’s platform which gathers in-context insights from target consumers (category shoppers) who are polled via mobile devices at home and in-store, where they are shown a photo and a detailed description of a new product and answer questions about purchase intent, differentiation, need/desire and value.
Instantly has access to an army of more than 350,000 primary grocery shoppers across the United States (c.62% are women) and 55,000+ in the UK, who have downloaded its app to their smartphones and agreed to participate in real-time market research tasks when they go shopping in return for small instant cash incentives and gift cards.
When they spot a new product, they scan the barcode, upload photos of it on shelf (which show where it is positioned vs competitor products plus the price tag) and answer multiple choice questions such as: How likely are you to buy this product in the next 30 days based on the price it’s being sold for here?
Alternatively they may be asked to what extent they agree or disagree with statements such as:
- This product will replace a product that I usually buy.
- It makes sense that this brand launched this product.
- This product meets a consumer need that other products don’t.
The app also asks consumers whether they regularly shop the category in question (so survey results won’t be skewed by, for example, men being asked about feminine hygiene products, or people that never buy coffee being asked about coffee).
The top 10 products ranked by purchase intent in March were:
- M&Ms Easter peanut butter speck-tacular eggs: 76%
- Pillsbury Funfetti spring cake mix: 64%
- Jif creamy almond butter: 62%
- Post Strawberry honeycomb cereal: 59%
- Chobani Kids grape & strawberry: 59%
- Nabisco Oreo mini mints: 59%
- Eggo bacon, egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches: 57%
- Hamburger Helper Bold jalapeno cheeseburger macaroni: 49%
- Cytosport Muscle Mile 100-calorie chocolate shakes: 49%
- Pearls Olives to go (pimento stuffed Spanish green olives): 45%
So what is a good score? CMO, Andy Jolls said: “It honestly depends on the category. Some product categories demand an > 50% score to be a good score. In others it might be 80%. Brand managers usually know what purchase intent top two box scores they need to get up their investment or consider their product to be a breakout winner. “
So has Instantly been doing this long enough to track its purchase intent scores against the actual performance of the new products it tracks to see how useful its data is? Not yet, says Jolls.
“No, Instantly Product Watch launched in February 2015. The tool is meant to provide the earliest insights into early traction. For brand managers watching their own products this provides information to decide on investment alternatives. When they are watching competition, it provides insights into trends that help them decide how to react.”
