Industry · RETL

Retail & E-commerce

Shoppers move freely between stores, marketplaces, quick-commerce apps and brand websites. Retailers need to know why shoppers choose them, what happens in the store or on the screen, and what would bring them back more often.

Discuss Your Market 24 studies we run

Last reviewed 2 October 2026 by the Hoog research team

What is retail research?

Retail research studies how shoppers choose where to shop, how they move through stores, apps and websites, and what makes them buy, return and recommend. It covers shopper journeys, store experience and mystery shopping, NPS and loyalty, assortment and private label, price perception and promotions, and location and expansion decisions for physical, online and omnichannel retailers.

How research creates value

Win the shopper at every step: before the visit, in the aisle and at checkout.

Retail decisions are made fast and at scale: which ranges to stock, how to price, where to open next, how to staff and lay out stores, and how to compete with online. Transaction data shows what sold; research shows who did not buy, why baskets were abandoned, and what shoppers expected but did not find.

Hoog works with supermarkets and grocery chains, specialty and fashion retailers, electronics and home retailers, pharmacy chains, quick-service restaurants, marketplaces, e-commerce and quick-commerce businesses, and the brands that sell through them. We combine observation (shop-alongs, mystery shopping, store audits) with shopper interviews and large-scale surveys.

Segments we cover

Supermarkets & grocery
Fashion & lifestyle retail
Electronics & home retail
Pharmacy & health retail
Quick-service restaurants & food service
E-commerce & marketplaces
Quick commerce
Malls & retail real estate

What we can do

The full research toolkit for Retail & E-commerce

Every study can run on its own or be combined into a programme. Not sure which you need? Tell us the decision and we will recommend the design.

Shopper & channel insights

Understand how and why shoppers choose.

Shopper journey & path to purchase
Triggers, research and in-the-moment influences, by channel.
Shop-alongs & exit interviews
Observe real trips and talk to shoppers as they leave.
E-commerce & quick-commerce shopper research
Search, browse, basket and abandonment behaviour on apps and sites.
Omnichannel behaviour study
How shoppers combine stores, apps and websites, and where journeys break.
Store choice & retailer image
Why shoppers pick one retailer over another, and how you are seen.
Shopper segmentation
Mission- and needs-based shopper groups for range, format and marketing.

Store experience & loyalty

Deliver a consistently good experience.

Mystery shopping (store, phone & online)
Trained shoppers measure service, standards and compliance.
Retail NPS & customer satisfaction
Store- and channel-level NPS with the drivers behind it.
Store audits
Availability, pricing, visibility, planogram and display compliance.
Store format & layout testing
Test new formats, layouts and concepts before rollout.
Loyalty programme research
What members value, what drives redemption and how to improve the programme.
Delivery & returns experience
Last-mile, click-and-collect and returns journeys.

Category, assortment & pricing

Stock and price what shoppers want.

Category management research
Decision trees and category roles to guide range and shelf.
Assortment & range optimisation
Which products matter, which can go, and what is missing.
Private label opportunity
Where own brands can win, at what quality and price.
Price perception & price monitoring
How shoppers judge your prices, and how you compare in market.
Promotions effectiveness
Which offers drive incremental visits and baskets.
Digital shelf & marketplace audit
Search ranking, content quality, ratings and availability online.

Location & growth

Decide where and how to grow.

Catchment & trade-area analysis
Who lives and shops around a site, and what they spend.
New store & city expansion assessment
Rank locations and cities on demand and competition.
Competitor store benchmarking
How competitors perform on range, price, service and format.
Franchise & partner research
Recruit and keep the right franchisees and partners.
Retail media & in-store marketing research
Which in-store and on-site media shoppers notice and act on.
Market entry for retail brands
Entering new countries or channels, including marketplaces.

What’s changing

Forces reshaping Retail & E-commerce

The shifts our clients most often ask us to help them understand and respond to.

Every channel at once

Shoppers research online, buy in store, reorder on quick commerce and return by courier — and expect it all to work together.

Speed as the new convenience

Ten-minute delivery and same-day fulfilment have reset expectations for availability and service.

Pressure on price and margin

Shoppers compare prices instantly, while rents, wages and logistics costs rise.

Own brands and retail media

Private label and retail media networks are becoming major sources of differentiation and profit.

Experience as a reason to visit

Physical stores increasingly compete on service, discovery and experience rather than range alone.

How we help

Research and strategy for Retail & E-commerce

Each engagement starts with a business problem and ends with a decision. These are the questions we are most often asked to answer.

Shopper journey & omnichannel behaviour

“We lose shoppers between browsing and buying — in store, on our app and on marketplaces.”

Questions we answer

How do shoppers discover, research and choose in each channel?
What triggers purchase, and what causes last-minute switching or basket abandonment?
How do reviews, price, availability and delivery promises influence choice?
Where do omnichannel journeys (click-and-collect, returns, stock checks) break down?

How we do it

Shop-alongs, digital journey diaries and shopper interviews reveal the real path to purchase in each channel; a survey sizes the influence of each touchpoint.

Shop-alongs (in-store and online)
Exit interviews
Digital journey diaries
Touchpoint influence survey

What you receive

— Journey maps by channel
— Moments of influence
— Omnichannel pain points
— Prioritised activation plan

Decision it enables

Where to invest to win at the moment of purchase.

Store experience, mystery shopping & NPS

“Service quality varies from store to store, and we don’t know which gaps cost us customers.”

Questions we answer

How consistently do stores deliver our service and operating standards?
How likely are shoppers to recommend us, by store and channel?
Which parts of the experience drive loyalty and complaints?
Which stores and teams need attention first?

How we do it

Mystery shopping against defined standards, combined with post-visit NPS and satisfaction surveys and driver analysis, reported by store, region and channel.

Mystery shopping (store, phone, online)
Post-visit NPS / CSAT surveys
Store audits
Staff interviews

What you receive

— Store-level scorecards
— NPS and driver analysis
— Standards compliance report
— Training and improvement priorities

Decision it enables

Which experience improvements and stores to prioritise.

Category, assortment & private label

“Our range is too broad in some aisles and missing key products in others.”

Questions we answer

How do shoppers decide within a category — brand, price, size, format?
Which products are essential and which could be removed?
Where could our own brand win, and at what quality and price?
What are shoppers buying elsewhere because we do not stock it?

How we do it

Category decision-tree research and shopper surveys, combined with range and competitor reviews, to recommend range changes and private-label opportunities.

Category decision-tree research
Shopper survey
Competitor range benchmarking
Private label concept and product tests

What you receive

— Category decision trees
— Range rationalisation recommendations
— Private label opportunity map
— Shelf and space guidance

Decision it enables

What to stock, what to drop and where to launch own brands.

Price perception & promotions

“Shoppers think we are expensive, even where we are not.”

Questions we answer

How do shoppers judge our prices compared with competitors?
Which products shape overall price image?
Which promotions drive extra visits and bigger baskets?
Where can we hold or raise prices without losing shoppers?

How we do it

Price perception surveys, in-market price monitoring and promotion evaluation identify the key value items and offers that shape price image.

Price perception survey
Competitor price monitoring
Key value item analysis
Promotion evaluation

What you receive

— Price image scorecard
— Key value item list
— Promotion effectiveness review
— Pricing recommendations

Decision it enables

How to improve price image while protecting margin.

Related capability: Pricing Research

Location, catchment & expansion

“We want to open more stores, but recent openings have not performed as expected.”

Questions we answer

Which cities and neighbourhoods offer the strongest demand?
Who lives and shops in each catchment, and what do they spend?
How strong is the competition near each site?
Which format and size suits each location?

How we do it

Catchment and demand analysis, competitor mapping and local shopper research to rank sites and recommend formats.

Catchment analysis
Competitor store mapping
Local shopper survey
Site visits

What you receive

— Site and city ranking
— Catchment profiles
— Format recommendations
— Expansion roadmap

Decision it enables

Where to open next, and in what format.

Related capability: Market Entry & GTM

E-commerce, marketplace & quick-commerce growth

“Traffic is growing, but conversion and repeat purchase are not.”

Questions we answer

How do shoppers search and decide on our site, app or marketplace listings?
Why do they abandon carts?
How do we compare with competitors on search ranking, content, ratings and delivery?
What would make shoppers buy again?

How we do it

Digital journey research, usability sessions and digital-shelf audits, combined with a customer survey on repeat drivers.

Remote usability sessions
Digital shelf audit
Cart abandonment survey
Repeat-driver survey

What you receive

— Conversion barriers
— Digital shelf scorecard
— Repeat purchase drivers
— Prioritised growth actions

Decision it enables

Which fixes will grow online conversion and repeat purchase.

Who we research

The people behind the decisions

Shoppers

In-store and online shoppers
Quick-commerce and marketplace users
Loyalty members and lapsed shoppers

Store teams

Store managers
Front-line staff
Regional managers

Partners

Brands and suppliers
Franchisees
Delivery and logistics partners

Experts

Former retail executives
Category, real estate and e-commerce specialists

What we measure

Evidence, not opinion

Store choice and share of wallet
Shopper conversion and basket size
Net Promoter Score by store and channel
Mystery shopping compliance
Price perception vs competitors
Range satisfaction and missing products
Online conversion and cart abandonment
Loyalty programme engagement
Catchment demand and competition

Typical engagements

What working with us looks like

Representative scenarios that show how we scope work in this sector. They are example scopes, not client case studies.

Mystery shopping and store NPS programme

Situation: A grocery chain sees wide differences in store performance.
Approach: Monthly mystery shops and post-visit NPS surveys across stores.
Output: Store scorecards and a training plan for the lowest-scoring stores.

Private label opportunity study

Situation: A retailer wants to grow own brands without harming key suppliers.
Approach: Category decision trees, shopper survey and private label product tests.
Output: Priority categories, quality and price positioning for own brands.

New city expansion assessment

Situation: A specialty retailer is choosing its next three cities.
Approach: Catchment analysis, competitor mapping and local shopper survey.
Output: City and site ranking with recommended formats.

Relevant capabilities

Capabilities we bring to Retail & E-commerce

Customer & Consumer InsightsUnderstand needs, behaviours, perceptions and the journey to purchase.Market ResearchSize markets, map demand and understand the forces shaping your category.Pricing ResearchWillingness to pay, packaging and price positioning grounded in buyer evidence.Market Entry & GTMDecide where to play, how to enter and how to win in new markets.Competitive IntelligenceKnow how competitors compete, where they are heading and how to respond.

Case studies

10 Retail & E-commerce engagements

How we approach the commercial questions this sector asks most often.

View all 10 →

Retail & E-commerce

Mystery Shopping and Store NPS Programme for a Supermarket Chain

Measuring service standards and shopper loyalty store by store to close performance gaps.

Example engagementRead case

Retail & E-commerce

Private Label Opportunity Assessment for a Grocery Retailer

Identifying the categories where own brands could win, and at what quality and price.

Example engagementRead case

Retail & E-commerce

Catchment and Site Selection Study for an Electronics Retailer

Ranking cities and sites for new stores after several recent openings underperformed.

Example engagementRead case

Retail & E-commerce

Price Perception and Key Value Items Study for a Hypermarket

Understanding why shoppers saw the chain as expensive and which products shaped that view.

Example engagementRead case

Retail & E-commerce

Loyalty Programme Review for a Pharmacy Chain

Understanding why loyalty members were not shopping more often, and redesigning the programme.

Example engagementRead case

Retail & E-commerce

Conversion and Repeat Purchase Study for a Home Goods E-commerce Store

Finding why site visitors were not buying and why first-time buyers were not returning.

Example engagementRead case

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is mystery shopping?

Mystery shopping uses trained researchers who pose as ordinary customers to assess the experience a store, branch, call centre or website delivers against defined standards — for example greeting, product knowledge, waiting time and cleanliness. Results are reported by store and region so managers know where to act.

How do retailers measure customer experience?

Most combine three sources: post-visit or post-order surveys (NPS and satisfaction), mystery shopping against operating standards, and analysis of complaints and reviews. Driver analysis then shows which parts of the experience most affect loyalty, so improvements can be prioritised.

What is a catchment analysis?

A catchment analysis studies the area a store draws its shoppers from: who lives and works there, how much they spend in the category, how far they travel and which competitors they can reach. It is used to choose new sites, set formats and estimate a store's potential.

Start a conversation

Facing a Retail & E-commerce decision? Let’s find the evidence.

Tell us about the decision you are facing. We will come back with a clear view of how research can help — and what it would take.

Discuss Your Market