Snacking Without Compromise
The Amplify Snacks Insights team found themselves at a roadblock. They knew "what" was happening in their market, but they didn't have much insight into the "why". To better understand their salty-snackers audience, Amplify used SightX to set up monthly tracking studies to keep tabs on shopper perceptions and behavior. With these frequent insights, Amplify Snacks is closer to their customers than they've ever been
Gathered shopper insights monthly to track perceptions and behavior changes.
Used early indicators in tracking data to adjust strategies to avoid negative impacts of market shifts.
Gained a deeper understanding of the difference within their shopper segments
About Amplify Snack
They say life is full of trade-offs: swapping taste for nutrition or quality for convenience. While most of us have just accepted that we have to choose between what we really want and what is good for us, Amplify Snacks is shifting the paradigm.
Best known for Skinny Pop, Pirate’s Booty, and Paqui chips; Amplify snacks has a growing family of brands dedicated to sharing their simple and tasty idea of what good snacks should be.
Made with whole clean ingredients, Amplify has been raising the bar in the better-for-you snacking category for over a decade. And they aren’t stopping anytime soon as they continue to test, research, and innovate.
The Challenge
Amplify’s Category Management & Shopper Insights team found themselves at a roadblock. While they had been using typical syndicated data to inform them of “what” was happening in their market, they didn’t have much insight into the “whys” behind the shifts and fluctuations.
The team needed a way to better understand not only their customers, but more broadly, the “salty snack” shopper and how they made their buying decisions. But there was a catch. According to their Director of Category Management, shopping for salty snacks can often be one of the most confusing in-store experiences.
If buyers can’t find what they’re looking for, it’s likely that they will just give up. Which makes understanding their needs, preferences, and decision making process crucial for the brand’s success. Even more so in today’s world where consumers have so many options, but never enough time.
“At the time, we didn’t really understand the shopper decision tree for buying salty snacks. That was ultimately what led us to SightX.”
Kristi, Director of Category Management and Shopper Insights
Needs Recap
Establish an efficient and scalable insights process to bolster syndicated data.
Get a better understanding of the shopper decision tree for salty snack buyers.
Review insights on current customers and “salty snack” shoppers in one platform.
The SightX Solution
In order to bring themselves closer to their ideal customers, the Amplify insights team set up a monthly tracker to find out where people shop, how they plan for their store trips, and whether they have brand preferences in mind when making their list.
With SightX’s campaign feature, ideal for brand trackers, the team only had to build their survey once, keeping all waves of the tracker within one project. Being able to analyze wave vs. wave or review all of the data in aggregate made it possible to fully understand behaviors and changes over time in much more detail. The team was able to use trend analysis to see the ‘puts and takes’.
All of this made it easier for them to keep track of their key metrics over a given period of time. Giving them a competitive advantage by keeping a constant pulse on their target market.
“SightX is a game changer! Nothing can replicate being able to hear directly from the consumer.”
Kristi, Director of Category Management and Shopper Insights
The Impact
Since beginning their monthly trackers using the SightX platform, the Amplify team understands their customers better than ever before.
They learned that most of the brand decisions their shoppers make are snap ones: done in the aisle at the time of purchase. This immediately reinforced the crucial role shelving, display, and packaging play in the decision making process.
SightX’s automated analytics allowed them to quickly learn about the significant differences between grocery store, convenience, and club shoppers. Now they can tailor their shelving and display approach for each. And the Amplify Insights team doesn’t just keep all of that data to themselves. Instead, they take their insights and share them with their retail partners so that they can discuss innovation, assortment, aisle flow, and shopper expectations.
Because they run their studies consistently each month, the team has been able to closely monitor the changes in consumer behavior related to economic concerns and price increases.
Now, they are able to see the early indicators in their survey data before the impact is big enough to be noticeable in the takeaway data.
“We are closer to our shoppers and consumers than we’ve ever been. It’s allowed us to respond and react to market shifts earlier than we would have otherwise.”
Kristi, Director of Category Management and Shopper Insights