Before you read: some questions to help you think about the topic and the words you might need.
How do you think companies decide where to put their products in a supermarket?
What makes you look at a product and choose it when you shop in a supermarket, especially if you don’t know a product brand name?
Marketing companies have traditionally used focus groups to discover what consumers wanted, but it looks like that is changing. The problem with focus groups is that group members have a habit of saying what they think will make the observers happy, but this doesn't help marketers really discover what consumers prefer.
To find out what really draws their test shoppers' attention, companies like Procter & Gamble Co., Unilever PLC and Kimberly-Clark Corp. are combining three-dimensional computer simulations of product designs and store layouts with eye-tracking technology. And that, in turn, is helping them roll out new products faster and to come up with designs and how to make supermarket shelves look better to help boost sales.
The technology they are using helps to track a person's retina (the center part of the eye that takes in information and images). This means they can record what and where someone is looking. To test new product designs they design a virtual product and from this they can measure what things catch someone's eyes. For example, a virtual shelf with virtual products is created and the technology can measure the heat from, and even brainwaves from, when someone gets interested or is stimulated by a product. They found that some product designs that they thought consumers liked were actually not important such as the size of a label, but other design features created interest.
An example of how this worked was the test of a new bottle design for Axe deodorant. The research led them to change the bottle's shape from curvy to straight, embed the brand in a black X with blue background to make it more visible and increase the font size of the product description. While the customer looked at the product the designers could actually change the design in real time and remeasure how the shopper reacted to a change in design. It also used eye tracking to test shelf space for deodorant, and it recommended that retailers use angled shelves to allow products to slide forward and constantly face front. At one retailer, sales of the deodorant category have increased 3.5%.
Guessing meaning from context
Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. The answers are below the table.
|
draw attention |
A |
1 |
To begin selling something, to start |
|
simulations |
B |
2 |
Look like real, something done to copy real life |
|
roll out |
C |
3 |
Make something increase suddenly |
|
come up with |
D |
4 |
Something that increases want or desire for something |
|
boost |
E |
5 |
Totally part of something, not moving |
|
catch someone's eyes |
F |
6 |
Think of, create something new |
|
stimulated |
G |
7 |
To notice |
|
embed |
H |
8 |
Cause someone to look at something and notice it, to attract |
A=7/8, B=2, C=1, D=6, E=3, F=7/8, G=4, H-5
Some discussion questions using the new words to help you better understand the word meaning and how to use them correctly. Try to use the words in your answer.
1. How do marketers draw your attention to their products?
2. Describe something that is a simulation.
3. What other things do you think are important when a company wants to roll out a new product?
4. How do you come up with solutions to a problem?
5. How do you think shelf layouts boost sales?
6. What things do you think catch someone's eyes when they go shopping, and what things stimulate people to become interested?
7. What brand names are embedded in your mind? Why?
Some example sentences using the new words to help you to better understand their meaning.
1. Having a stimulating product can really stimulate customers to buy because they catch the shopper's interest.
2. When pilots train, they go into a flight simulator that simulates a real flying experience.
3. This year our company will roll out some exciting new cell phone designs.
4. The hardest thing about working in an advertising company is coming up with new ideas, especially ideas that will boost sales.
5. BMW and Prada are brands that are embedded in peoples' minds when they think of cars or fashion.
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