Shaping Retail: The Use of Virtual Store Simulations in Marketing Research and Beyond

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis Industry Insights white paper was prepared by the In-Store Marketing Institute with the assistance and support of Joel Rubinson, Chief Research Officer of the Advertising Research Foundation and Raymond Burke, E.W. Kelley Chair of Business Administration at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. Author: Peter Breen, Managing Director, Content, for the In-Store Marketing Institute.To read the full white paper, download the attachment at right.The paper was sponsored by Decision Insight, Fifth Dimension, Red Dot Square Solutions and Vision Critical, four leading providers of virtual store simulation tools who agreed to support an objective look at the practice to help educate the shopper marketing community about its potential benefits.This paper reflects the thoughts and experiences of shopper marketing professionals from more than 20 consumer product manufacturers, retailers and research firms. In addition to the aforementioned persons and companies, they include representatives from Ahold USA, The Co-Operative Group, Coty Inc., Energizer Holdings, General Mills, H.J. Heinz Co., Kellogg Co., Kimberly-Clark, Nestle-Purina, OTX, PepsiCo, Perception Research Services, Procter & Gamble, Sainsbury's, Unilever and Walmart. The author gratefully acknowledges their participation.EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe use of computer-driven store simulation technologies to conduct market research and achieve other key business objectives is fast becoming a common practice among consumer product manufacturers and retailers.If conducted properly, virtual store tests can deliver a more accurate representation of at-shelf product selection and other shopping behaviors than traditional methods of consumer research and a faster, more cost-efficient alternative to in-store field tests.While startup costs for building whole-store environments and establishing internal capabilities can be significant, the use of virtual store simulations delivers a wide variety of business benefits that practitioners say more than justify the expense. The goals of such initiatives go well beyond "pure research" to encompass effective internal planning and collaboration and the fostering of stronger relationships with key industry partners.Judged in the context of shopper marketing, virtual store simulations can be an indispensable tool for understanding in-store behavior and designing stores and merchandising programs that truly meet the needs of consumers.INTRODUCTIONOn Oct. 3, 2007, the front page of The Wall Street Journal featured an article entitled, "A Virtual View of the Store Aisle," which detailed Kimberly-Clark's use of three-dimensional store simulation technology as a marketing research and business development tool.The high-profile coverage inspired a classic "overnight success" story, introducing to many marketing professionals a technology that, in fact, had been available for nearly two decades: Procter & Gamble, Intel Corp., ConAgra Foods, Frito-Lay, Goodyear Tire & Rubber and a number of other companies had been experimenting with various methods of computer simulation since at least the early 1990s.The Innovation Design Studio created by Kimberly-Clark that was highlighted in the WSJ article wasn't even the first facility of its kind: In September 2006, Procter & Gamble opened "The Cave," a fully immersive 3-D environment in Weybridge, England, that let consumers walk through store simulations for Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and other leading British retailers.Professor Raymond Burke, E.W. Kelley professor of business administration at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, began working with virtual environments in the late 1980s while at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. (Today, virtual simulation technologies are an integral part of the Customer Interface Laboratory that Burke operates on IU's Bloomington campus.)In a 1996 article published by the Harvard Business Review, Burke concluded that "three-dimensional computer graphics" not only "have made simulated test-marketing practical for a broad range of companies" but also would ultimately "change the ways companies innovate and how they approach a variety of strategic issues."It may have taken another 12 years, but Burke's forecast appears to have finally materialized. Although only 3.7% of respondents to a recent Shopper Marketing magazine survey said that they use virtual testing to generate insights for in-store marketing, an obvious rise in activity in 2008 makes it safe to predict that virtual-store testing will soon become a standard component of both marketing research and retail planning.Several months after the WSJ article, the tool's future ubiquity received another jumpstart when, in January 2008, Walmart's research department announced plans to make virtual-store simulation a key plank in its research practice at a summit with vendors. As they did previously, when Walmart announced initiatives related to environmental sustainability and radio frequency identification testing, these consumer product manufacturers responded by stepping up their own use of virtual store environments.THE ROLE OF VIRTUAL RESEARCHPositioned within the spectrum of existing marketing research, virtual store testing sits between the fields of traditional consumer research -- focus groups, text-based online surveys, in-store intercepts -- and historical methods of field work, such as market tests at retail, in-store ethnography (through video capture or personal observation) and controlled field experiments (in conventional or mock store environments).In "Making Shopper Marketing Work," an industry report issued in fall 2007 in conjunction with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Deloitte Consulting praised the practice for "allowing for rapid and realistic scenario testing of merchandising, product and promotion designs and layouts with reduced need for field testing."Although there are a multitude of applications for virtual simulation tools, their most basic function is to provide the in-store context needed to understand product selection and other important aspects of shopping behavior. Traditional methods of consumer research do not provide such context; traditional methods of field testing can, but at comparatively higher costs (relative to scope) and in a slower, less efficient, and far less flexible manner.To achieve that goal, practitioners are employing an array of tools that include:visually basic but highly functional two-dimensional and video-based simulations of shelf sets and small-scale store environments that can run on any computer and are designed for online use on standard monitors;visually basic 3-D simulations with pre-determined shopping paths and limited durations that are online-compatible;intermediate 3-D simulations of product categories and store departments with high-resolution graphics suitable for larger screens that can run on personal computers (although not online);high-quality, full-store 3-D simulations with special technology requirements that warrant site-specific interaction and are designed for display on large screens.Each of these options has its own benefits and potential drawbacks. In general, development costs increase along with the level of visual sophistication, but operational efficiency and flexibility of user location decreases. While the commercial availability of various 3-D software tools makes internal development of virtual store environments possible (see "P&G is Virtually Global"), most consumer product manufacturers and retailers have, to this point, hired outside vendors to do the work.The functionality common to all environmental levels centers on the ability to "shop" by selecting specific products, either by clicking with a mouse, touching the screen or using a more advanced interactive device; doing so draws up a larger version of the product's packaging for closer inspection and consideration. Test subjects (or respondents) then have the option to "buy" the product or place it back on the shelf.Another common element is the delivery of both quantitative and qualitative information by combining data gathered through the virtual exercises with some mode of respondent survey or post-exercise question-and-answer component. This ability to deliver behavioral data and corresponding attitudinal insight has been a key selling point for the tools. "A lot of [traditional research methodologies] can provide you with one or the other," says Ruth Thompson, virtual reality insights manager for Kimberly-Clark. "[Virtual store testing] is a great tool for giving you both -- without having to be in-store to get it."A consensus seems to have been reached among practitioners (referring both to suppliers and clients) that some level of in-store "atmosphere" beyond the shelf set in question is required to adequately establish context. Leading virtual suppliers, therefore, typically create exercises that begin outside the store in the parking lot and guide respondents through the entrance and over to the appropriate aisle. (Exactly how much of the store needs to be depicted to achieve actionable results is still up for debate.Most virtual research currently involves the capture of SKU- or category-level data, including tests on packaging, price, product assortment and shelf organization. A number of companies also are testing the effectiveness of in-store marketing and merchandising concepts. Still fewer are using more robust virtual environments to examine category adjacencies and overall store layout.Perhaps the most common research application for virtual tools, and one that offers a simple way to compare the practice with other research methods, is package testing. In traditional consumer research, consumers are presented with one or more packaging concepts -- either as two-dimensional renderings or physical prototypes -- to ascertain their preferences and likelihood to purchase. For the most part, consumers are charged with forming their opinions of the package in isolation; at best, static renderings of the product within a competitive shelf set don't approximate the store experience at all. Furthermore, researchers must rely on the validity of what respondents tell them: Questioned for this report, more than a few practitioners cited the axiom that "what people say they do is often very different from what they actually do."Taking a package test into the field, on the other hand, would provide the necessary in-store context, but at costs that make the option almost always prohibitive -- even if all the attending logistical issues can be addressed.In contrast, even a fairly basic store environment presented to consumers online would provide enough real-world context to evaluate potential in-store performance, practitioners say.At Kellogg Co., adding shelf simulations to tests on new packaging concepts has provided valuable information about purchase incidence: Will the new design increase sales by better grabbing the attention of shoppers, or decrease sales because they can no longer find the old, familiar package? "Without the simulation, we couldn't do that," says Brian Seel, Kellogg's associate manager of market research for Pop-Tarts.Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare has been using online virtual environments to test the impact of new products on various shelf arrangements. Without the virtual option, the company would have to conduct "test & learn" studies at retail, a much costlier, more time-consuming alternative, according to Mike Pishvanov, associate director of shopper insights.PRIMARY BENEFITSIn addition to providing context, current practitioners cite the following benefits of virtual store simulations:Cost savings: Although initial development of virtual testing environments adds an additional layer of expenses onto a typical consumer research project (initial setup costs range from $10,000 to $20,000), they usually are far less expensive than market tests -- especially when some of the subsequent benefits are taken into account. Also, costs generally decrease once a basic environment has been created.Flexibility: Project-to-project comparisons don't tell the entire story, however, because most practitioners cite the technology's facility in testing multiple scenarios simultaneously, or its ability to easily alter test stimuli, as a greater advantage than potential project-specific cost savings. "The flexibility is amazing. We can visualize what the store looks like at 5 p.m. on a Wednesday," says Kimberly Senter, who as director of category management at Unilever has been working with whole-store environments.Speed: Although initial setup can take a few weeks longer than traditional research methods (primarily due to the collection and processing of product images and other required graphics), virtual tests are faster in the long term, especially in comparison with field tests.Control: Virtual simulations let researchers completely manipulate both the environment and respondents' interaction with it. Weather, out of stocks, competitive activity and other variables that can often affect real-world tests are no longer factors -- unless they are designed to be as part of the study.New data streams: Real-world testing of in-store marketing effectiveness has too many obstacles -- expenses, uncontrollable variables and retailer reticence, among others -- to be cost-effectively scalable. Similarly, these limitations have made it almost impossible to conduct tests for several specific retail accounts simultaneously. Virtual simulations, therefore, can provide data that has been largely unattainable, according to several practitioners. "There was just no other way for us to generate that kind of information, no matter how much money we threw at it," says K-C's Thompson.Confidentiality: Numerous practitioners point to the freedom they now have to conduct store tests in anonymity, outside of the store and away from the always vigilant eyes of competitors. They also note the ability to avoid the potential embarrassment of failed in-store tests, which can negatively affect relationships with retailers.Practitioners usually discuss several of these benefits in tandem when discussing the appeal of virtual simulations. Although he hasn't yet found significant cost savings in the practice, Energizer consumer research manager Donald Day notes that, because batteries have a long purchase cycle, "we would need to be in-store for about three months" to collect the requisite data. With virtual tests, "we can get the desired sample size in a couple of weeks by testing different cells," he says.Likewise, Coty Inc.'s first virtual project has been the development of an "optimal fragrance wall" for mass-market channels. With the level of "tweaking" necessary to build the ideal display, conducting in-store tests would be "extremely costly" when such factors as building, shipping and installing fixtures are considered. With virtual tests (conducted as mall intercepts in 10 cities), "we can do so much more, so much faster, with pretty much the same results," says Yelena Idelchik, Coty's director of retail experience, fragrance. "Something that would take you days to build [instead] takes you minutes to build."Without the virtual option, "we would have done it the old-fashioned way" by conducting in-store tests, says Michael Ferrara, Coty's vice president of sales strategy and customer marketing. "But that would have been very costly and, arguably, not all that effective, because we'd be limited to a small number of doors."POTENTIAL OBSTACLESCosts: The costs of virtual-store testing, both real and perceived, are currently the single biggest barrier to entry.As noted earlier, virtual simulations require developmental expenses that aren't found in traditional forms of consumer research. And the production of full-store environments for more advanced projects range anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to multiple millions -- a price tag far higher than many companies are willing to spend.However, the sticker shock over high-end simulation technologies is largely related to the hardware costs associated with building fully immersive systems. And such systems are being undertaken for multiple business objectives, not just research.Project Management Issues: Setting up a virtual test involves technological steps with which some research professionals are simply inexperienced. "It's definitely a lot of work on the client side. You have to provide a lot more resources," says Tristina Keith, vice president of operations and product development at OTX, a marketing research firm that acts as a client in the virtual world by contracting with a simulation specialist to create testing environments.Lack of benchmarks: The relative newness of the practice -- and some of the companies providing it -- means that researchers don't have the wealth of benchmarks and normative data with which they are accustomed. That can worry researchers used to supporting their new findings with existing data. "It takes a bit of a leap of faith," notes Thompson at K-C, which thus far has leapt farther into the virtual-reality world than perhaps any other practitioner. (See "Kimberly-Clark Looks Forward.")Validity: The practitioners interviewed for this report all firmly believe that virtual store simulations mirror reality well enough to deliver actionable insights, despite what in most cases is an admitted lack of true scientific evidence.A number of companies on both the client and supplier sides have validated virtual results against market-share data, most commonly dollar and unit sales, and found the correlations to be excellent (with 0.9 the ratio most commonly cited). There has not been enough "research on research," however, to conclusively determine how accurately other aspects of shopping behavior are reflected.FINDING VALIDATIONOne of the key obstacles in validating virtual results illustrates one of the very reasons the practice is so attractive to marketers: the difficulty in conducting in-store tests. The time-consuming, costly nature of market tests isn't conducive to parallel studies (although several companies are in the process of conducting them)."It's hard to generate the real-world data to validate the virtual data," notes Thompson. Still, Kimberly-Clark is taking that "leap of faith" in regard to shopping behavior "because the key measures [of sales] have been so strongly validated."While conducting a virtual test of layout concepts for its convenience store group in conjunction with Unilever, the Co-Operative Group (an omnibus organization for various U.K. retail channels) simultaneously tracked real-world shopping via in-store video cameras: Respondents first participated in a back-office virtual test, then were sent into the store to shop for real. According to Susan Beetlestone, Co-Operative Group's head of commercial marketing, results from the virtual tests were "absolutely validated on all the aspects we were looking for," including basket size and number of categories purchased. The virtual test accurately "identified hot and cold spots within the store," and ultimately provided the blueprint for a new prototype that has increased average basket size.One measure for which substantial normative data is available, dwell time, already has proved to differ substantially, because virtual shopping exercises are still a novel experience for most respondents and, therefore, slows down their actions. But K-C has already found the difference to be predictive, according to Thompson.Some research professionals suggest that the novelty of virtual environments might also alter engagement levels, a highly desired shopper metric captured virtually through the concurrent use of eye-tracking technology. Depicted in photo-realistic 3-D within a virtual store, even the most unremarkable product display, for instance, might prove unnaturally captivating.One important aspect of the validation question, however, is the fact that no one -- not even suppliers -- believes that virtual simulations eliminate the need for in-store testing entirely; chain-wide changes are not being implemented without a real-world trial to corroborate the virtual findings. "We'll still wind up testing in a number of doors" after completing the virtual tests, says Coty's Ferrara.Rather, practitioners are using virtual simulations to effectively narrow down options and refine concepts so that the ultimate in-store test will be easier to implement and far more likely to succeed. "It saves the embarrassment of a failed 20-store test," says Unilever's Senter.Virtual testing is also helping to facilitate retailer approval for in-store tests, according to many practitioners. A retailer is much more likely to authorize a market test if presented with hard data predicting causal sales growth rather than a pure hypothesis based on general consumer research, they say.Despite the uncertainty, most practitioners are ready to plow ahead. "The Advertising Research Federation's most important initiative concerns 'research transformation,' because traditional research tools are falling farther and farther behind the way people actually make purchase decisions," says Joel Rubinson, ARF's chief research officer. "While a skeptic might question if virtual shopping realistically replicates real shopping, no one thinks that traditional surveys could meet that same test. We have to start being progressive and taking risks."APPLICATIONS BEYOND RESEARCHGeneral Mills recently conducted a major study using the more common research methods of online consumer surveys and in-store audits. After analyzing the results, the company produced virtual reality simulations to visually present its conclusions to key retail accounts. The goal was "to drive action for the insight," according to Chana Weaver, the company's category management director for dry grocery, while delivering a case study on the project at the Kelley School's 2008 Shoppability Conference.The anecdote succinctly illustrates another significant aspect of virtual-store technology: that its potential applications extend far beyond its role in marketing research.At this stage, virtual simulations may, in fact, be employed more often as a store planning and design tool than as a primary research vehicle. In this space, simulations are part of an evolutionary progression of technology, enhancing and improving computer aided design (CAD) capabilities that have been utilized for decades.Practitioners consistently praise the technology's ability to deliver dynamic, visual representations of marketing and merchandising concepts -- research-driven or not -- that can be used to educate and inspire both internal constituents and external partners.U.K. hypermarket Sainsbury's uses store simulations in its "planogram packs," the periodic merchandising instructions it sends to store managers. Since adopting the practice, store-level compliance for the initiatives has nearly doubled in comparison with the "old days" of two-dimensional diagrams and static photos, according to Ian Hidden, the chain's seasonal and promotional ranging manager.Walmart is using virtual simulations for research on in-store communications and department adjacencies. But in a presentation at the In-Store Marketing Expo in November 2008, Candace Adams, the chain's senior director of insights and customer strategy, also noted that building a virtual store "from the ground up" mandated that often-siloed internal departments -- store design, operations, research, category management, merchandising -- begin to collaborate more closely.At the very top of the "other benefits" list for consumer product manufacturers is the ability to engender stronger relationships with retailers. The baby care aisle that Kimberly-Clark developed for Safeway, the signage tests it ran for CVS/pharmacy, and the traffic-pattern study it conducted with Target using virtual simulations all had sales growth for both parties as the primary objective. But the underlying goal for Kimberly-Clark was to foster greater collaboration with these key retail partners.K-C didn't invest heavily in its Innovation Design Studio in Appleton, WI, to conduct research, but to host representatives from key accounts for meetings in which concepts can be presented and discussed. Having these capabilities "changes the conversation," says Stuart Taylor, K-C's vice president of insights for North Atlantic Consumer Products. "It redefines how we engage with senior leaders across the industry."Similarly, the "significant investment" Unilever is making in virtual capabilities aims to establish the company as a "thought leader" within the retail community, explains Senter. "We want to be the first manufacturer that retailers call up, because we can create solutions that speak exactly to what they want to accomplish."LEVELS OF REALITYThere is little debate over the potential for virtual store simulations to deliver shopper insights and drive other business objectives. And there appears to be few, if any, product manufacturers or retailers that don't expect to adopt the practice to some degree in the near future.Cost, however, is still a major factor for many organizations. Some companies that were impressed with results from initial projects are still hesitant to make the more substantial commitment required to develop internal capabilities and/or conduct larger, "whole store" tests.The use of less robust, online-conducive environments for market research seems to be a relatively simple decision for most companies. OTX's Keith said she would recommend the option to clients looking to study price impact, in-store communication effectiveness or category optimization. "It's an ideal tool for exploring 'what if' scenarios," she says.The conversation, then, centers on how "real" the virtual environment must be to achieve the desired objectives, both in terms of size and graphical quality. And the answer is based primarily on what those objectives are.Companies simply looking for an effective, efficient research tool to conduct SKU- or category-level tests don't need such cost drivers as large-scale store environments or, perhaps, more advanced, photo-realistic visual clarity (although most practitioners believe that, the better the graphics quality, the better the data will be). "If you can give consumers the visuals to provide atmosphere, and then get them in the [appropriate aisle], that seems to be enough," suggests Kellogg's Seel.Additional benefits of online simulations include speed of preparation, lack of hardware costs, simplicity in obtaining large and representative samples, and ease of integration with online surveys and panel data.A more complete, robust environment that would require testing at a physical location starts becoming necessary as objectives shift toward in-store marketing and store layout. Walmart's planned adjacency study, for instance, demands the recreation of an entire store.In addition to delivering more realistic graphics, location-specific environments also can employ more sophisticated respondent interfaces (such as touchscreens, joysticks, or even faux shopping carts), ambient audio or aroma, and data-enhancing add-ons such as eye-tracking devices.Kimberly-Clark, for one, is still evaluating how much "reality" is required to obtain accurate data. "You can always keep adding to the realism," says Thompson. "So you have to determine which additions will actually enhance the data you're getting back. K-C firmly believes, however, that the richer, more elaborate environments it uses are necessary to truly understand how in-store marketing influences shopping behavior. "You can't get that with some of these other tools. It's necessary to be this real," she says.If the objective is to test the "interruptability of an endcap, you're going to want the whole store, so you're not leading [test respondents] too much," suggests Sonja Mathews, director of customer strategy & insights for PepsiCo.Incidentally, in the interests of system functionality and cost, even the most advanced whole-store environments are not fully three-dimensional, but instead are created with most on-shelf products and background materials represented as flat-image "wall-paper," and only secondary displays and the product categories required for the project at hand rendered as 3-D images.Perception Research Services president Scott Young, whose company has applied its eye-tracking capabilities to virtual environments, concurs that better results may be obtained from "larger, full-store contexts" than less robust environments. But he also maintains that some current approaches "may be over-designed from a consumer research standpoint.""You really have to understand if [more elaborate environments are] necessary," says OTX's Keith. "A lot of money is being spent on the 'coolness factor,' as opposed to the research needs."It is only when the business objectives move beyond research to inter-departmental business planning and external collaboration that the high costs of developing proprietary capabilities and building whole store environments really enter into the equation, most practitioners say. "For us, an insights solution just wasn't enough," says Unilever's Senter. "We need to connect the dots all the way to in-store execution." Similarly, K-C talks of using its internal system to take its projects "from concept to reality."PARTNER SELECTIONLikewise, the selection of an appropriate vendor to provide virtual simulation services is driven primarily by the client's needs. Leading vendors in the marketplace offer a broad spectrum of technological capabilities, representing what one practitioner called "the difference between wearing a T-shirt and jeans or wearing an Armani suit."Because the practice is still in the developmental stage, new suppliers are entering the marketplace, and even established businesses are ramping up new services. Therefore, some practitioners warn, promised capabilities might not always match "real" deliverables.In broad strokes, existing vendors can be divided into two camps: traditional research firms that have developed virtual-simulation capabilities, and virtual-simulation technology companies that have developed (or are building) internal research expertise. This dichotomy has led more than a few practitioners to work with multiple vendors, one to fulfill pure research needs, another to provide more advanced visual presentation functions.Therefore, the starting point for any evaluation is to determine a vendor's capabilities in both of these areas. The following questions (as well the chart and accompanying key in the attached PDF) are designed to help prospective clients evaluate potential vendors.Is it just a technology company? The old knock about "technology for technology's sake" should be ringing in the ears of any prospective client. Some online virtual applications, for instance, "look like they've been designed by a web programmer rather than a researcher," warns Burke at the Kelley School. "The design of the user interface can significantly influence the respondent's behavior, so it's important to create an intuitive and natural shopping experience."Assessing the vendor's research acumen has two aspects: Whether or not its technology can accurately capture, process and present the data; and whether or not it can analyze data internally. The weaker the analytic skills, the more resources the client will be forced to devote internally (or find elsewhere).Another component of the technology issue involves compatibility, both with the client's own databases and software tools and with necessary third-party technology. One primary issue is eye-tracking capabilities (provided either in-house or through collaboration), which many believe is a must-have for any research examining the impact of in-store marketing.Is it just a research company? As one practitioner said, "The ability to understand the business issues and interpret the results is what's most important, not the technology." But as the marketplace grows, some traditional research companies may be tempted to cobble together rudimentary technologies for the sake of offering "expertise."In that case, clients would be better off finding a vendor with stronger dual capabilities, or taking the aforementioned two-supplier approach. Another option, although one taken by few practitioners to this point, is to develop a proprietary system using commercially available software. (See "P&G is Virtually Global.")Are your tools proprietary? If a vendor is doing little more than aggregating readily available marketplace tools, a good internal systems integrator might be able to source out hardware and software needs without the additional markup.Who owns the environments? Depending on the vendor's business model, a client may or may not own the simulated environments it commissions. With cost such a strong consideration for many clients, some suppliers have opted to offer full-store environments for key retailers that can be shared by multiple clients -- even, in theory, competing organizations.Where do I conduct my research? This is another factor, and one that clearly differentiates the various vendors. Some technologies are online friendly, others can operate off laptop computers (which offers greater testing flexibility); systems that involve more complex hardware configurations (large-screen monitors, simulated shopping carts, etc.) require more fixed locations.CONCLUSION: THE VIRTUAL FUTUREIn some respects, a comparison between traditional research methods and virtual store simulations is irrelevant. First, because the tools are being used as an enhancement to existing practices, not a replacement for them: Best-practice virtual technologies have more traditional consumer survey techniques embedded within them; simulation studies pave the way for more efficient, effective in-store tests.Second, the comparison is unnecessary because the adoption of virtual-store simulations is a natural, technology-driven evolution for marketing research, rather than the introduction of a radically different approach to gaining insights. A comparison can be drawn to the emergence of the Internet as a functional alternative to in-person or phone-based consumer interviews.It is clear that additional validation work is necessary to assess the ability of virtual simulations to predict true in-store shopping behavior. That should come organically, as more companies adopt the practice and as more of the programs that early adopters have developed roll out at retail. An industry-wide initiative, however, would provide a great benefit in this regard.Another boost to the marketplace would come from the development of industry standards that could be adopted by vendors, and best practices that could be utilized by clients. Kimberly-Clark, in fact, is taking steps in this direction by helping to open a string of Innovation and Collaboration Environments that it will make available to the industry at large.The technology itself will continue to improve, as clients demand enhanced functionality, more realistic environments and, naturally, reduced costs. For one, the current disparity between online and offline functionality will gradually diminish. As this white paper went to press, at least two simulation providers were experimenting with ways to add "people" to their environments; also on tap is the introduction of neuromarketing technologies.Costs likely will remain a factor for at least a few more years, as companies struggle with adding a new line item to the budget -- especially in the current economy. At present, related expenses tend to come from a single department -- research at one company, category management at another -- although an ecumenical approach to the practice seems warranted. Cross-departmental cost sharing would make startups a lot more palatable to expense-minded organizations.Of course, costs are always a relative measure: The multi-million dollar price tag attached to a proprietary virtual insights laboratory with cutting-edge simulation capabilities is, in fact, no greater than the cost of developing and executing one or two national TV advertising campaigns.If the future success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers alike rests largely on their ability to establish expertise in shopper marketing (as has been theorized recently), then the expense certainly is worthy of strong consideration.BIBLIOGRAPHYBurke, Raymond R., “Virtual Shopping: Breakthrough in Marketing Research,” Harvard Business Review, 74 (March-April 1996), 120-131.Byron, Ellen. “A Virtual View of the Store Aisle.” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 3, 2007.Holston, Rob, et al. Making Shopper Marketing Work. Deloitte Consulting/Grocery Manufacturers Association, September 2008.In-Store Marketing Institute. “Shopper Marketing Trends Report 2009.” Shopper Marketing/In-Store Marketing Institute, December 2008.Mitchell, Alan. “P&G takes shoppers to another world in war of the brands.” The Financial Times, Oct. 18, 2006.Vockrodt, Steve. “Internet Insight.” Kansas City Business Journal, Nov. 30, 2007.CREDITSADVERTISING RESEARCH FOUNDATIONFounded in 1936 by the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the ARF is dedicated to aggregating, creating and distributing research-based knowledge that will help members make better advertising decisions. ARF members include more than 400 advertisers, advertising agencies, associations, research firms, and media companies. The ARF is the only organization that brings all members of the industry to the same table for strategic collaboration. The ARF is located at 432 Park Ave. South, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016.INDIANA UNIVERSITY'S KELLEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESSThe Kelley School of Business at Indiana University has been a leader in American business education for nearly 85 years. With a world-class faculty and an enrollment of over 5,000 students, it is among the premier U.S. business schools. Recognition has included top-20 rankings by Business Week and U.S. News and World Report magazine, and a Princeton Review survey giving top marks for Kelley faculty, facilities and overall classroom experience. The Kelley School is a pioneer in the field of shopper marketing, with a state-of-the-art Customer Interface Laboratory, an ongoing program of shopper research and retail experimentation, and graduate and executive training on new methods for measuring and managing the customer experience.IN-STORE MARKETING INSTITUTEServing the industry since 1988, the In-Store Marketing Institute has evolved from a small publisher into an industry trade association. Through its portfolio of industry-leading publications, flagship events and state-of-the-art websites, the Institute delivers content-rich resources tailored to the needs of its readers, attendees and members -- leading brand marketers, retailers, agencies and design firms -- throughout the world. A privately held corporation, the In-Store Marketing Institute is headquartered just north of Chicago in Skokie, IL.