Safeway to Collaborate With Shopping Research Center

Safeway Inc. has joined the global custom market research company Duke-Ipsos Research Center as a board advisor.

“We are very excited to be partnering with Ipsos, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a select group of CPG companies on this initiative,” says Deb Fifles, VP, consumer and shopper insights for Safeway. “We believe that the Center is a compelling collaboration across retailers, manufacturers and the academic community.”

The Duke-Ipsos Research Center, jointly led by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Ipsos, consists of seven premier consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers as well as retail board advisors.

“We [will be] working with Safeway in advancing the science of how shoppers decide,” says Mark Berry, EVP who heads shopper insights at Ipsos and co-leads the Center along with professor Gavan Fitzsimons, Kirby Research Fellow and professor of marketing and psychology at Duke. “We created the Duke-Ipsos Research Center to gain deeper insights into the judgments and choices that go into the shopping experience. The Center’s ability to conduct breakthrough experiments will be greatly enhanced with Safeway’s participation.”

The purpose of the Center is to advance the knowledge of participating members through a better understanding of the decision theory associated with creating demand generation through the shopping experience. While board members consist of CPG companies, retail board advisors will predominantly consist of retailers that guide the Board on their research plans and share in the learning from the Duke-Ipsos Center’s research projects. Participating retailers will also provide access to their stores for research testing.