Research that thinks like a shopper
Redesigning an aisle doesn’t sound so dramatic—until you multiply it by thousands of stores. Our client knew that getting this wrong would mean wasted investment, frustrated shoppers, and lost sales. But they also knew their current aisle design wasn’t cutting it. They brought us in to conduct concept testing, but we knew traditional research wouldn’t give them the depth they needed.
Our Narrative Intelligence approach cut through the noise. We monadically tested all three aisles—the current setup and both new concepts—using AI-driven probes that let shoppers tell us what they cared about in their own words. No leading questions, no forced rankings—just organic, human responses that revealed the truth.
By collecting shoppers’ responses at scale and using our custom AI to analyze their patterns, we uncovered three critical layers:
- The blind spots (what do shoppers prioritize in a bedding aisle, and how does each design perform?)
- Deep understanding (what do attributes like “color” and “style” really mean to them?)
- Emotions (the feelings that drive behavior, surfaced naturally through open-ended responses).
Color organization is an emotional trigger
Here’s what our client didn’t expect: It wasn’t just about having enough color options. It was about how those colors were organized on the shelf. The way product was arranged could make shoppers feel calm or frustrated—and those emotions directly impacted whether they’d even walk down the aisle. We saw that frustration drove a nearly 20% drop in walk-in intent, while calmness increased it.
Suddenly, this concept test became all about emotional impact.
The winning formula
One aisle concept outperformed the baseline across the board, and our research clearly showed why shoppers preferred it. Going into this work, we hypothesized that shoppers choose to walk down a particular aisle because they want to feel inspired. Traditional metrics confirmed this, with survey results showing that 38% strongly agreed that they were inspired by the “winning” aisle concept—a higher share than the original and other test.
At the same time, the results from Narrative Intelligence told a deeper story that spoke to the heart of shoppers’ motivations. While inspiration played a role, an aisle’s visual presentation via its colors, and the emotions they brought about, was truly the strongest driver of intent. In particular, the way the colors flowed together in the preferred aisle concept created a sense of premium quality and visual calm that invited exploration. Shoppers felt drawn to touch the products and browse the full selection because the organization itself signaled a curated, high-end experience.
From insight to action
Armed with clear data and deep understanding, our client had the confidence to move forward. They’ve since rolled out the winning aisle design in pilot stores nationwide. But the value of our research went beyond just picking the right option. The insights Narrative Intelligence turned up around color organization and emotional triggers have given the client an entirely new framework for thinking about merchandising in general. Now, they’re using those principles to further customize the design, turning what could have been a simple A/B decision into a strategic framework for how shoppers experience concepts across their stores.
