Most customers ultimately make their purchase decisions in the store, according to POPAI’s 2013 Shopper Engagement Study. The study found that 76% of customers surveyed indicated that they make their purchase decisions in the store.

POPAI officials are working on another wave of research with the help of SmartRevenue, Shopper Sense, and Eye Faster. The team will interview 2,800 mass merchant shoppers across the United States.

“In our groundbreaking 2012 Shopper Engagement Study we provided new insights, but also recognized the need to understand more about the shopping trip and shopper mindset,” Popai President Richard Winter explained in a press release. “Within this second wave of research we will dive deeper into what the role displays play in the in-store decision-making process as well as drivers of unplanned purchases in the mass merchant channel.”

The next study will also provide a broad understanding of general merchandise categories as well as grocery items that are found within most of today’s mass merchant stores.

“While technology and data analytics provide more answers than ever before, it remains essential to understand purchase behavior at the critical moment of decision,” SmartRevenue CEO John Dranow said. “The POPAI study, which meticulously and authoritatively identifies what percentage of the purchase decision is made in-store, serves as an essential and invaluable guide to marketers and merchandisers as they allocate their resources for maximum impact and return on investment.”

To complement the robust data set of shopper purchases, POPAI is also working with Eye Faster to conduct eye tracking for a subset of shoppers in the field.

“Eye tracking can reveal new information and insights that are hidden in plain view of most other conventional research techniques,” Kirk Hendrickson. Co-founder & CEO of Eye Faster, said. “By revealing visual activity, the shoppers are not consciously aware of and therefore cannot or do not want to express, patterns can emerge leading to clearer insight and stronger understandings of shopper behavior. In this study Eye Faster adds deep insights from the shoppers own point of view by focusing on the path-to-purchase, category shopping behavior and display engagement.”

Fieldwork for the study will be completed this year with findings and analysis available in early 2014.