Most FMCG brands assume they know how shoppers reach their products. See the ad, remember the name, grab it off the shelf. Good FMCG market research tells a messier story, and that’s exactly why more brands are investing in it.
Key Insights
- Path-to-purchase mapping tracks every touchpoint between a category need and a completed sale, not just the final aisle decision.
- The concept has evolved from the linear “sales funnel” into a circular, always-on journey shaped by digital research and social proof.
- Australian grocery is dominated by two retailers, which makes understanding where shoppers actually decide even more commercially valuable.
- Good FMCG market research turns this mapping into ranked, actionable recommendations, not a journey map that sits in a shared drive.
Why FMCG Market Research Now Focuses on the Full Journey
For decades, marketers relied on the funnel: awareness, consideration, purchase, done. Then, in 2009, McKinsey published research covering almost 20,000 consumer purchase decisions across five industries and found that the funnel didn’t hold up. The growth in media and product choice meant marketers had to earn a spot in the small set of brands shoppers consider from the outset, rather than simply narrowing down an existing list. McKinsey called it the consumer decision journey: a loop, not a line, where shoppers add and drop brands right up until the moment of purchase, then keep evaluating afterwards too.
That shift is even more important in Australian FMCG. Shoppers now compare prices, read reviews and switch brands more freely than ever, thanks to mobile and social platforms. Layer Australia’s concentrated grocery sector on top, and the pressure builds further. The ACCC’s supermarkets inquiry found Woolworths and Coles together account for around 67% of national supermarket retail sales. When two retailers hold that much sway over shelf space, knowing exactly where a shopper’s decision is won or lost, before, during or after the store visit, becomes one of the highest-value things an FMCG brand can invest in.
What Path-to-Purchase Mapping Covers
Proper path-to-purchase mapping goes well beyond a pretty diagram. It should uncover what triggers category need in the first place, where shoppers research or shortlist options, what influences them in the aisle versus before they arrive, and exactly where the drop-off between intent and purchase happens.
Done well, path-to-purchase mapping connects that behavioural picture with what’s actually happening on the shelf, so recommendations are grounded in evidence, not assumptions.
How FMCG Brands Can Start Mapping Their Customer Purchase Journey
Getting started doesn’t require overhauling your entire research program. A good customer purchase journey project usually comes together in five stages.
1. Pin down the decision you’re actually trying to influence
Path-to-purchase mapping goes off track quickly when the brief is too broad. “Understand our shoppers” isn’t a decision; it’s a wish. “Why do we lose first-time buyers to a cheaper private label after one trial?” is a decision. Get specific about whether you’re chasing trial, repeat purchase, basket size, or defending share against a category leader, because that choice shapes every question you ask afterwards.
2. Inventory every touchpoint, not just the obvious ones
List out where a shopper could encounter your category or brand: a recipe on social media, a mention from a friend, a price comparison app, the shelf itself, a loyalty app notification, or a returns experience. Most brands can easily name the media touchpoints but often forget the in-store and post-purchase ones, which are often where the real story lies.
3. Combine qualitative shopper conversations with hard retail data
Talking to shoppers tells you why they hesitated at the shelf or switched brands mid-trip. Sales and loyalty data tell you what actually happened at scale. Neither on its own gives you the full customer purchase journey; you need both to separate a genuine pattern from one shopper’s bad day.
4. Map where intent breaks down into a lost sale
This is the step brands skip most often. It’s not enough to know shoppers considered your brand; you need to know exactly where they dropped out, whether that’s price shock at the shelf, poor availability, confusing pack information, or a competitor promotion that caught them mid-decision.
5. Turn the map into ranked, resourced recommendations
A journey map with twenty insights and no priority order won’t move a marketing or trade budget. The output should tell your team which one or two interventions will shift the most volume, and roughly what it would take to fix them.
The First Step To Path-to-Purchase Mapping
This is exactly the kind of work good FMCG market research is built to deliver, and it’s where working with a specialist agency pays off. Understanding the full customer purchase journey isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the difference between marketing spend that moves the needle and spend that just feels productive.
Story Insights runs senior-led FMCG market research exclusively for the retail and grocery sector, and every path-to-purchase project ends with clear, ranked recommendations rather than a stack of observations.
If your team is making ranging, communication or investment calls without a clear map of how shoppers actually decide, it’s worth a conversation. Book a free strategy call with Story Insights and find out exactly where your brand is winning, and where the real opportunity sits.
