Category Choice Architecture®
A holistic framework for shopper understanding
Category Choice Architecture® is the uber-framework connecting shoppers, products, and retailers (in-store and online). It synthesizes segmentation, path to purchase, decision trees, and market structure, making each more vital and meaningful for today's evolving marketplace.
Vista Grande’s Category Choice Architecture® will accelerate your sales strategy and elevate your level of influence with retailers.
Perceptual Filters
Each of us perceives choice subjectively through powerful filters based on our identities, our needs, and our environment.
+ Who
We’re all products of our biology, environment, and experience. Vista Grande classifies individuals to elucidate our understanding of need-states, retailer preferences, product choice perception, and purchase motivations.
+ Why
We’re innately wired to plan for the future and to anticipate life’s moments no matter how routine. Vista Grande characterizes and quantifies the needs and occasions which stoke demand, color retailer relevance, and influence the perception of category choice.
+ Where
We’ve entered a new era where shopping requires nothing more than a connected device. Vista Grande takes a broad view of the omni-channel marketplace, connects segments and motivations to retailer preference, and reveals contextual influence on category choice perception.
Shopping Funnel
Through our subjective filters we seek relevance amidst an abundance of choice, often with time or budget constraints, culminating in a purchase decision we anticipate will meet our future needs.
+ Assortment
Product assortment is one of the most critical and contentious decisions retailers make, and they make it routinely. Vista Grande characterizes the role variety plays in retailer preference and category choice perception.
+ Orientation
Shoppers intuitively form mental constructs of product organization based on their needs, not necessarily the shelf arrangement. Vista Grande reveals the ways shoppers orient themselves to a category filled with abundant choice based on their need-states.
+ Navigation
Study upon study has shown that shopper navigation in a category with abundant choice is foremost an exercise in rapid deselection. The vast majority of offerings are never perceived regardless of whether they've entered the field of vision. Vista Grande reveals which attributes are most relevant to shoppers by need-state and retail environment.
+ Consideration
The consideration set for a shopper is typically a tiny fraction of the assortment. Vista Grande uniquely identifies the range of products that were considered for purchase. It is only at this point that comparisons of product claims, ingredients, price points, and value have meaning.
+ Purchase
At the end of the day we keep score by what products make it into the shopping cart, physical or digital. Some would consider the rest mere background noise.
We believe an understanding of Category Choice Architecture® is the framework needed to develop winning sales and marketing strategies.
+ Substitution
To craft and curate a great assortment and shelf organization, it is critical to understand competitive sets. Vista Grande directly measures at a granular level the degree of exclusivity and substitutability with other choices. We do this based on individuals rather than households, informed by specific need-states rather than aggregated purchasing, and specific to retail channels. We routinely take a broad view of the relevant category with ability to measure immediate consumption, perimeter departments, and innovation.
“Vista Grande delivered powerful insights“
“We went with Vista Grande for a Decision Tree update and received more than we could have ever imagined. From Walmart to Auto Parts, and from brick & mortar to eCommerce, Vista Grande delivered powerful insights across the spectrum of retailers and shoppers. Their recommendations underpin the strategic direction we're taking with our most iconic brand.”
Josh Lew
Global Consumer Insights, Auto Care
Energizer Holdings
“Our leadership is energized about leveraging these findings“
“This study was an A+. Our sales, marketing, innovation, product development, and category management teams were hungry for these category, retailer, and shopper insights and Vista Grande delivered in spades. Our leadership is energized about leveraging these findings to drive growth for Marzetti and our customers.”
Lisa Knell
Director of Consumer Research
T. Marzetti Company
The Vista Grande advantage:
- Retail Choice Rationale
- Product Purchase Motivations
- Includes Innovation
- Covers Immediate Consumption
- Handles Fresh Meat & Produce
- Shopper Navigation Path
- Product Affinities (Substitutability)
- Individual Resolution (not households)
- Broad Category Definitions (Need-States)
- Full Retail Coverage (B&M and eCommerce)