In Vivo Opens Labs in U.S

New York -- In Vivo BVA, a Paris-based company with operations throughout Europe, is opening three shopping labs in the United States this month. The labs -- one in the Pallisades Center in West Nyack, N.Y.; one at the Westfield West Covina Center in West Covina, Calif.; and one on Michigan Avenue in Chicago -- will be 5,000-foot facilities, divided almost evenly between a mock store (complete with branded products found in normal grocery or drugstores) and a technology area where company staffers dig deeper into the shopping experience.John Traynor, president of In Vivo BVA's U.S. operation in New York, says these labs are designed to study a shopper in the most natural way possible. Video cameras record shoppers overhead -- there are no glasses or brain caps to wear. Then, post-shopping, researchers conduct surveys and sit with the shoppers to review the video. An eye-scanning software is used for further insights.Traynor says the lab is much more effective than a pre-shop interview about how a customer plans to shop and also more effective than virtual research because testers get wrapped up in the technology.In Vivo BVA has been running similar shopping labs in Europe for 20 years, starting in France before branching out to the U.K., Germany and Italy. Though branching out to the states can be risky, particularly in a soft economy, many of the company's global CPG clients (including Procter & Gamble) assured them the expansion was necessary, says founder and co-global CEO Eric Singler. "Our clients are big and international clients; they told us it would be interesting to be in other countries," Singler says. "Procter & Gamble told us, 'If you want to be a real strong supplier, it would be helpful for you to be in the U.S., and then later in Asia.'" A few other clients include Kraft, Colgate, Coca-Cola, SC Johnson, Unilever and Georgia-Pacific.In Vivo recruits testers from the foot traffic outside their labs, based on pre-determined demographics. The testers are given a list of five shopping items (only one of which is being tested, the others are red herrings) and set loose in the mock store, which includes carts and piped-in music to better simulate a real environment. Other influencers, such as signage and promotional materials, are not generally included, though they could be at the client's request. Store configurations can also change based on a client's needs.The process does not involve a specific amount of money to be spent, or other guidelines, in hopes that testers will focus more on the task, rather than the rules, Singler says. "We saw that people were calculating the price to be close to the amount that we gave them," he says. "It was not natural."After the shopping experience, the testers are immediately questioned about the decisions they made, sometimes reviewing videotapes of the experience and going over computerized surveys. "When you see it on video, you really see how important merchandising is," Traynor says. "Shoppers are not standing in front of a shelf for three or four minutes debating."The entire process is better than pre- or post-shopping surveys because it's less dependent on tester recall, Singler says. Also, he claims, the lab setting is better than shop-along observations in actual stores because the controlled environment of the In Vivo lab can limit influences to just the area -- packaging, for instance -- that the client wants tested.All of the operations around the world -- Asia is coming next year, Singler says -- are connected in real time, so managers around the world can view the results as well. "That's why we want to be in the United States," he says. "We use the same methodology in Europe and the U.S."

In Vivo Opens Labs in U.S

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