Test your marketing and sales measures with controlled market tests

Know what’s going to happen in advance.

Approximately 70% of purchase decisions aren’t made until shoppers reach the POS and they are subject to a variety of influencing factors. This means that it is increasingly difficult to predict the success of your marketing and sales measures on the basis of studio or online testing alone.

Real-life store tests (controlled market tests) offer you the opportunity to test your product or marketing and sales measures under real, unaffected conditions in real stores. Real-life store tests record the reactions of shoppers in their normal everyday life without their knowledge, thus providing authentic results in terms of effect on sales and turnover.

As the market and quality leaders for real-life store tests, we have more than 20 years of experience in the field. We have implemented several hundred market tests to answer a wide range of shopper marketing and sales questions in different product groups.

Your added value through real-life store tests

We provide you with the knowledge you need to take the appropriate shopper marketing and sales measures.

Yagora Controlled Store Test Mehrwerte fuer den Kunden optimierte Erfolgsstrategien

Realistic success forecasts and optimised success strategies

Yagora Controlled Store Test Mehrwerte fuer den Kunden Ueberzeugende Listungsargumente

Convincing listing arguments for retailer negotiations

Yagora Controlled Store Test Mehrwerte fuer den Kunden Ueberpruefung geplante massnahmen

Review and optimisation of measures in advance of national implementation

Yagora Controlled Store Test Mehrwerte fuer den Kunden Effiziente Budgetplanung

Efficient budget planning

What’s going on? Analysis of scanner data

Effects on sales and turnover become apparen through real-life store tests in conjunction with the analysis of scanner data. Our controlled real-life store tests are designed as before/after tests with test and control groups (matched samples).

The test and control groups are comprised of stores with comparable framework conditions.

The net change is calculated in order to quantify the causal effect of marketing measures on sales or turnover.

Yagora Controlled Store Test Scannerdaten Vorher Nachher Analyse

Measurable performance indicators/KPIs:

Sales/turnover per week and store
Comparison with competitor products (turnover/sales/ranking)
Net change
Cannibalisation effect
Uplift

Using modern econometric analysis methods, basic sales, sales generated by marketing measures and seasonal effects can also be shown in isolation.

Yagora Controlled Store Test Scannerdaten Analyse Saison Effekte

Our cooperation partners for market tests

We have a wide network of cooperation partners for market tests including a large number of independent REWE and EDEKA retailers.

You can find a selection of our national and international retail partners in the references section:

See our references

Our test market quality guarantee

We offer test market research from a single source, thus reducing complexity to a minimum.

Full Service

Out team carries out implementation of market acquisition, listing, goods logistics, placement, data collection and much more

Consulting

Experienced project managers provide comprehensive advice on designing the test and calculate the amount of test goods required

Yagora Store Test festangestellter aussendienst

Field service

Regular monitoring of implementation in test and control stores by permanent field service team

Yagora Storetest Markttest Testauswertung

Test evaluation

Evaluation using scanner data, customer loyalty card data and shopper research carried out by our in-house data science, analytics and research team

Yagora Markttest Storetest langjaehrige Handelskooperation

Retail cooperation

Diverse implementation options thanks to long-term retail cooperation

Yagora Storetest Markttest Objektivitaet

Objectivity

Evaluation of results from a factual, neutral perspective

Further analysis options for valuable shopper insights

Standard test market research with analysis of scanner data provides meaningful information on sales and turnover effects for test products and defined competitor products.

Conclusions cannot be drawn, however, with regard to purchasing behaviour on a household-by-household basis or on the shopper’s decision-making when shopping. We use data from customer loyalty cards and shopper research methods to answer these questions.

Customer loyalty card data analysis

Who is buying my products? How are they buying them?

Data from customer loyalty cards can be used to analyse a range of topics including reach, repeat purchase behaviour, shopping frequency, proportion of new buyers and buyer profiles.

Find out more

Shopper research methods

Why are shoppers buying my products?

Buying behaviour is analysed and shoppers' motivations questioned using qualitative studies such as surveys, observations, shop-alongs and eye tracking.

Find out more

Real Life Storetest Projects

Find out more about the real-life store test projects we have implemented.

Case Studies

FAQ: Questions about Real Life Storetests

What makes Yagora different from other providers regarding real life store test?

Since we want to analyze the effect of a test measure in detail, we have to precisely record the situation in the control stores. That is why our sales force visits the test and control stores on site on a regular basis. In terms of our quality guarantee, it is also important to us not to leave our customers alone with complex analyzes after a store test, but to provide clear and actionable recommendations for more sales and market shares.

Why are real life store tests a suitable research method?

A real life store test is only carried out in real stores, so that a test is carried out under 100% realistic conditions. As a result, the store test is not visible to the shopper, which means that the shopping processes are completely unaffected. Therefore we are able to generate reliable sales figures and valid shopper insights.

For what kind questions is a real life store test suitable?

We recommend real life store tests to answer various shopper marketing and sales questions. Test market research is particularly useful when it comes to defining or optimizing the shopper marketing mix. With the help of a store test we answer questions about, for example, optimal pricing, shelf placements, promotions, secondary placements, packaging design or the sales potential of new products.

How will I be informed during a store test project? When will i get results?

Yagora and its team of experts are available for advice throughout the entire project period. In addition, you will be proactively kept up to date by Yagora with continuous updates on the current status and project progress. The sales data is obtained by us, comprehensively checked, validated and evaluated by our in-house data analytics and data sciences teams and prepared specifically for you and your questions. Depending on the scope, the results are usually presented comprehensively after 3-6 weeks and discussed with you.

In how many stores is a real life store test carried out?

The number of stores depends on various factors such as the question, category, timing and budget. However, in order to get a meaningful prognosis of success, we recommend at least 5 markets per test and control group.

How long does a store test usually take?

The duration depends on various factors, such as the sales frequency in the category as well as the required level of detail of the results, but the test phase should run for at least 8 weeks in order to obtain valid results. Exceptions are secondary placement tests, which usually only run over a period of 1-2 weeks.

Who is responsible for the acquisition of the stores that are needed to carry out the store test?

Since Yagora has its own store panel of several hundred retailer, the selection and the store acquisition are carried out by Yagora. The test and control stores are selected through the formation of structurally identical groups and depends on factors such as store size, environment, listing image and sales within the corresponding category. Due to our broad network of cooperation partners for store tests, we can fall back on various sales channels in order to cover the most diverse food and non-food categories.

The implementation of a store test seems very complex. Does Yagora help with the operational implementation?

It is important to us to reduce the complexity of a store test project to a minimum and to offer our customers full service from a single source! This means that Yagora takes over the test market acquisition, product logistics, placement and regular controls in the stores. For example, we have our own refrigerated transporters and a large refrigerated room in our in-house warehouse, so that store tests with refrigerated and frozen products are also possible at any time.