The shopping tool a shopper picks at the entrance tells the retailer a lot about the purchases planned before entering the aisles. Shoppers tend to use baskets for short trips with a few products, and trolleys when they stock up for the coming weeks, so duration, zones visited, number of stops and basket size all differ.
Shopping tools are also how Shoppermotion measures the store. BLE tags are fitted discreetly to trolleys and baskets, not given to shoppers: they identify a tool, never a person, and last for years on a coin battery. Because the tag is on the tool, the tool of every trip is known without asking anyone. See the shopping tools article.
A study of 13,973 customer flows in grocery stores of 1,000 to 2,000 sqm found that shoppers with small baskets visit 8.59 categories on average, large baskets 13.35 and trolleys 15.11. Large baskets had a conversion rate similar to small baskets but covered 30% more sections, and therefore a higher average sale. Choosing the optimal quantity and type of shopping tools can raise the average ticket by up to 13%.
In practice, teams use the tool to choose what to offer at the entrance (basket trolleys can lift items per trip), to adapt pack formats and displays to the tool that dominates each zone, and to build audiences by preferred tool for targeted campaigns.