In CPG market research, an empathy trek is a form of immersive fieldwork that helps brands observe and understand real-life experiences with products. Traditionally focused on the shopper, these treks can yield even greater value when they include the perspectives of retail employees – the individuals who interact with both products and customers every single day.

Retail staff research is often overlooked, but these frontline workers offer unique insights into how products function on the shelf and in the minds of consumers. Their observations are grounded in repetition, routine, and a working knowledge of what consistently drives or disrupts sales.

The missing link in the shopper journey

While consumers provide valuable feedback on preferences and decision-making, retail staff often witness behavior that consumers themselves don’t articulate. A shelf-stocker might notice shoppers reaching for older packaging even after a redesign. A store clerk may know exactly when a product runs out and how often customers ask for it. A category manager may be aware of how in-store promotions influence cross-category traffic.

In short, retail staff experience the space between intent and action – the "moment of truth" at shelf-level. Including their perspectives in a CPG empathy trek helps brands:

• Understand product placement issues that affect visibility or sales
• See patterns in stocking, inventory, or spills that frustrate shoppers
• Detect early red flags in packaging confusion or brand perception
• Uncover real-world workarounds used to improve display effectiveness

The case for a data + people approach

Analytics and transaction data offer a slice of the story – but people fill in the context. Retail observation supported by employee insights can explain the "why" behind trends. For instance, if sales dip in one region but not another, a category manager might share that one store simplified its layout or swapped signage during the promotion period.

When your empathy trek includes talking to these staff members, your brand gains on-the-ground knowledge that isn’t just anecdotal – it’s operational intelligence. That’s why leading CPG brands are investing in more holistic consumer research methodologies that factor in every in-store actor.

Retailers as partners in insight

Retail workers aren’t just maintainers of merchandise – they are partners in delivering a brand experience. When you treat them as such during field research, your findings don’t just improve the shopper journey – they lead to more informed merchandising decisions, stronger supplier-retailer relationships, and, ultimately, better business outcomes.

Inclusion of retail voices makes CPG empathy treks smarter, more complete, and more connected to the realities of shopping today.

Store employees spend hours each day interacting with both products and people – positioning them as unsung experts in CPG insights. While brands often focus on consumer focus groups or post-shopping surveys, retail workers see what really happens between first glance and final purchase. Their observations offer critical store-level insights for CPG brands aiming to refine their strategies and connect with shoppers more effectively.

Everyday insights from the frontlines

Each role within the store environment contributes a unique perspective to the shopper experience. Here’s how these retail staff members view the product and purchasing cycle:

• Shelf-stockers: Witness firsthand how products are stocked, replenished, and navigated by shoppers. They can point to hidden placement issues, recurring out-of-stocks, and which item configurations cause confusion or frustration.
• Store clerks: Interact directly with shoppers and field questions about products. They often note the same questions or complaints repeatedly – be it about price tags, package sizes, or finding alternatives. Their feedback surfaces knowledge gaps or unmet customer needs.
• Category managers: Analyze performance across SKUs, brands, and departments. They understand which promotions worked and why, which seasonal shifts affect traffic, and how shopper motion paths change when signage or displays are altered.

Because these employees interact frequently with both inventory and shoppers, their insights blend the operational with the behavioral – a rare and valuable combination for CPG empathy tracking.

Real-world examples brand teams can miss

Imagine a new cereal is introduced with bold packaging, yet sales lag despite high awareness. A shelf-stocker may explain that the size of the new box doesn’t fit the allocated shelf space, leaving it placed awkwardly or not stocked at all. Meanwhile, store clerks might note that parents frequently ask where the product is but leave when they can't find it easily. These are examples of shelf stocker insights and store clerk feedback that rarely show up in sales reports – yet have major sales implications.

Observations that add depth to your research

Understanding what retail workers observe daily helps brands translate abstract behavioral data into daily, actionable insight. Their observations often lead to small but impactful improvements, such as:

• Refining packaging to improve shelf fit and legibility
• Adjusting placement for better visibility or natural reach
• Enhancing staff training so store clerks can answer questions effectively
• Using feedback to improve planogram design and category flow

These improvements contribute directly to better product performance and a smoother shopper experience.

Including store staff in market research isn’t only respectful of their expertise – it’s a smart business strategy. With the right approach, engaging these retail professionals during your empathy trek can illuminate insight-rich details that other research methods miss entirely.

While consumers may be the ultimate target of CPG brands, it’s often the people working behind the shelves that hold the missing pieces to real-world context. Including retail employees like shelf-stockers, category managers, and store clerks in your CPG empathy trek uncovers insights that are frequently overlooked when research focuses only on shoppers or product displays.

Because retail staff interact with both products and customers on a daily basis, they are a unique and valuable source of consumer research and retail staff research. Their experience combines operational knowledge and face-to-face consumer behavior—offering a fresh, grounded lens on store-level strategy.

Why Retail Employees Are Invaluable

Retail staff handle products from the moment they’re delivered to the moment they’re purchased. This continuous exposure reveals:

• Common pain points that affect product placement and accessibility
• Patterns in shopper inquiries or repeated questions about certain goods
• Frequent stockouts, substitutions, or display disruptions
• Real-time reactions from customers to promotions, pricing, or packaging

For example, shelf-stockers often know which products customers move when searching for something else, while clerks can tell you which brands invite questions or lead to purchase hesitancy. Category managers, who help plan and organize product assortments, offer strategic CPG insights into what sells best and why within their domain.

Human-Centered Learning That Tech Can’t Fully Replace

While data analytics offer important trends, they can’t capture the day-to-day shopper friction points that retail employees witness firsthand. Speaking with these frontline workers brings empathy into your research—giving voice to the people who orchestrate in-store experiences and serve as a bridge between CPG strategy and consumer execution.

By bringing retail employees into your research team, even if just observationally or through interviews, your fieldwork becomes richer and better aligned with operational realities on the ground. The result? More relevant product design, better merchandising strategies, and more informed messaging.

Whether you're exploring shelf stocker insights or store clerk feedback, these everyday interactions reveal the lived experiences that today’s brands need to really connect with their consumers.

To get the most value from retail observation and conversations during a CPG empathy trek, it’s essential to approach retail staff thoughtfully and respectfully. These workers are busy, often under pressure, and not always aware of the goals of your market research efforts. A well-planned approach fosters trust, opens dialog, and ensures you capture genuine, actionable insights.

How to Connect Authentically with Store Staff

Whether you're inquiring about shelf layout challenges or learning how a certain category manager selects products, following best practices can improve the quality of your field research:

• Get store approval ahead of time: Work with store management to ensure transparency and avoid disruptions. A formal introduction helps staff take your project seriously.
• Be clear but casual about your purpose: Using everyday language—rather than research jargon—helps put employees at ease and encourages open conversation.
• Observe first, then engage: Spend a few moments quietly observing before jumping into questions. Not only does this show respect for their time, but it also helps you ask more relevant, grounded questions.
• Ask experience-based questions: “What do customers ask about most?” or “Do certain products cause issues?” are more effective than “Do you like this display?”
• Value their experience, not just their opinion: Position staff as partners who help you understand real-life operations, instead of simply respondents to an interview.

Navigating Logistics and Sensitivities

Some employees may be cautious about speaking openly, especially when it comes to sales trends or store procedures. Make it clear that your goal is not to evaluate performance or find flaws, but to understand the shopper's journey and how products function in live retail environments.

If possible, consider offering to share back a few high-level learnings from the project. This simple gesture shows that their time contributed to something bigger—and earns you goodwill for future research.

The power of field research with grocery store workers lies in its real-world grounding. With the right mindset and clear communication, your empathy trek can deepen your store-level insights for CPG brands in a way that purely consumer-facing research often misses.

Once gathered, the observations and feedback from retail staff during an empathy trek can do more than inform—it can shape. These in-store insights help tell the fuller story of how your brand lives on the shelf and in the hands of real people. The operational truths and small frictions witnessed by retail staff often translate into game-changing decisions.

Real-Life Observations That Spark Action

Brands that integrate retail staff research into their decision-making processes often uncover issues that wouldn’t emerge in survey data or consumer focus groups alone. For example:

• Packaging may look great in a mockup but be hard to stack or open under time pressure—a point a shelf stocker can explain instantly.
• Pricing signage might align with brand goals but create confusion at checkout—feedback a store clerk can share based on repeated customer interactions.
• Product substitutions or out-of-stock issues may reveal demand patterns that only category managers see first-hand, suggesting new bundling or supply strategies.

These frontline insights often provide the missing layer between strategy and what works consistently across retail environments. That connection not only supports smarter merchandising strategies but influences product design, promotional timing, and training for store reps.

Creating Brands That Serve People, Not Just the Shelf

Integrating category manager input, store clerk feedback, and shelf stocker insights allows CPG brands to become truly shopper-centered. Decisions no longer rely solely on data trends or consumer intention but reflect how people actually shop and experience products in real-world settings.

What emerges is not just better retail execution—it’s a better brand. One that’s in tune with how people make choices in the moment, solve everyday problems, and internalize value. This kind of understanding can’t be guessed or purely modeled—it has to be observed and heard, up close and often from unexpected voices.

So the next time you plan a CPG empathy trek, remember: the best brand improvements might come not just from what the shopper says, but from what your shelf stocker sees every day. The frontline isn’t just where products live—it’s where actionable insights originate.