PCL has developed an innovative and unique methodology to test the impact of merchandising on consumer purchasing behavior in order to allow accurate judgments regarding customer reactions in China which could not be obtained in a controlled environment.

Consumers go shopping under our observation (either in-store or out-store), allowing us to directly appraise reactions and subtle social nuances which are displayed by the customer. These nuances are critical to properly gauging the reaction of the subject as both the taste and reactions of subjects vary within the different regional areas of China.

An example of the differing regional taste and preferences is that while mineral water such as Evian is quite popular in Shanghai, it is perceived to be less clean than distilled water in Guangdong Province ö and (surprisingly) Hong Kong.

By unaffecting the environment, or inversely stimulating it, we can measure the effects of price, promotion, packaging, shelf set, shelf assortment, new product interest, and substitution behavior. this type of study lets us use hierarchical clustering and other multivariate techniques in order to determine which products are competitive, complimentary, and unique.

We can unobtrusively ask customers questions and obtain accurate spontaneous and unedited reactions.