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Accompanied commerce: Insights into consumer purchase decisions

To understand how consumers make in-store decisions, we need to accompany them on their shopping experience. Escorted shopping, also known as shop-along, is a method where we observe and talk to the consumer as they move through the store. This provides a unique opportunity to understand what influences their choices in real time and how they react to product placement, packaging, price, location and marketing initiatives.
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Why use accompanied trade?

Many purchase decisions are made intuitively and are influenced by habits, emotions and unconscious preferences. With accompanied shopping, we gain insight into the actual decision-making processes where they happen. We can observe which products they consider, what makes them pause, and how they reason about their choices.


Escorted retail also provides us with valuable knowledge about the store as a decision-making arena.

  • Which shelf placements attract the most attention?
  • How do promotions and signage influence purchasing decisions?
  • How does the consumer navigate the store and what factors contribute to a product being selected – or deselected?


These insights can help optimize assortment, pricing and store experience.


Methodologically, accompanied shopping is often combined with short interviews right after the shopping trip. In some cases, it can also be supplemented with eye-tracking, video documentation or quantitative analysis to provide an even more detailed picture of shopping patterns. This flexibility makes the method suitable for grocery, specialty and online retailers.


Escorted shopping is particularly useful when we want to understand how consumers experience a specific category, how new products are perceived in-store, or how different segments navigate and shop. By combining observation with direct insight from the consumer themselves, we get a holistic picture of the decision-making process

Assisted trade in practice:
Kavli Cheddar Dip

Before Kavli launched Cheddar Dip on the Norwegian market in March 2025, Innsikteriet conducted several surveys for Kavli, including accompanied trade/shop-along.

For Kavli, it was important to gain further customer insight in relation to:
– How do customers navigate the TexMex shelf?
– What is the right in-store placement for a cheese dip for TexMex?
– Do customers notice a new cheese dip on the shelf?
– How can Kavli stand out on the shelf with its Cheddar dip?


The launch of Cheddar Dipp has been a success for Kavli. Since its launch in 2025, Cheddar Dipp has accounted for 53% of the number of units sold in tex-mex dips at Meny.