In the world of journey mapping, industries like consumer packaged goods (CPG) can present a unique challenge. CPG brands – essentially, any product that is sold in a supermarket or big box retailer – are known as B2B2C, meaning they must keep the needs of both their retailers (businesses) and their end users (customers) in mind.

Take Proctor & Gamble, the parent company of brands like Charmin toilet paper and Crest toothpaste. P&G’s customer is a retailer like Walmart or Target, and their end consumer is the person actually buying the product. Therefore, they must consider the challenges of two different groups when they think about their product design as well as their path-to-purchase journey. When CPG brands think about retailer needs, they must think about the volume of inventory, logistics of delivery, how the product will be displayed on the shelf, and price differentials. When they consider the needs of their consumer, they’re taking into account things like the features of the product and the way it’s packaged. A B2BC journey map must factor in these different needs to display an accurate picture of the customer path.

For B2B2C industries like CPG, it’s necessary to diagram the consumer journey both in and outside of the store. Not only does this provide the most insight into customer experience, but it also gives the brand leverage with their retailer. By doing qualitative and quantitative research into the shopper journey, they’re also able to surface insights to retailers like Walmart and Target that may help merchandise their product. Since these retailers have so many product categories, it is difficult for them to do their own in-depth consumer research – so they depend on B2B2C brands and vendors to research this information to inform their product strategies.

One great example of a CPG brand doing this well is O-Cedar. They sell cleaning products in retailers like Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowes. Not only did they map out the consumer and retailer journeys – they also gathered information on the ways that the consumer experience between retailers differed.

There are many benefits to a well-structured B2B2C journey map like this one. A brand like O-Cedar could provide valuable competitive insights across retailers, showing them how to effectively compete with other stores to merchandise their product. This research-driven journey map can also change category managers’ beliefs about their product design and where investment should be focused. Mapping consumer purchase paths can show why they should spend more on improving packaging, for example, or how to stop “brand switching” within the store.

Gold Research Inc. has extensive experience in journey mapping, path-to-purchase research, deploying customer intercepts, in-store interviews, compliance audits, and mobile surveys for concept testing, marketing testing, satisfaction research, shopper insights, and mystery shopping. We can also act as an extension of your research team in helping with data processing, analysis, report development, and survey programming. Contact us at 1-800-549-7170 or send us an email for a free 30-minute consultation on this topic.