Market research gets a virtual spin (1/3ページ)

It wasn't so long ago that consumer-goods makers built fake grocery stores inside of warehouses and stocked them with realistic models of cereal boxes, household cleansers and shampoo. They then rounded up consumers, dozens, sometimes hundreds, paid them to go inside and studied why they liked what they liked and bought what they bought.

But that kind of market research can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Increasingly, consumer-goods companies, such as Procter & Gamble and General Mills, are turning to cheaper 3-D computer graphics.

With a big-enough screen, it's possible to simulate an entire aisle or store down to the cracked linoleum floor and crinkled price tag on a can of deodorant. Thank the rapid advancement of 3-D computer graphics such as those seen in video games and movies.

"We need a consumer to believe that what they're looking at is real to get accurate data," said Rob Cheezum, founder of DesignVis of Carmel, Ind., which builds simulated retail environments.

Data is what matters to consumer-goods companies.

It's what they use to get their products placed in Wal-Mart, Target and other stores. It's also what they use to get the space to arrange products in large, colorful displays and put them in coveted positions such as at the end of aisles, also called "end caps."

Every company that makes consumer goods is vying for the attention of retailers, Cheezum said. And they want retailers to believe they understand consumers better than anyone else - including the retailers.

"Every time you walk into a store and you see an end cap or an aisle and where things are placed, all of those decisions are being thought of by the company that makes the products and the retailer that puts them in the store," he said. "They're all trying to maximize the opportunity for profit."