Discovery Shopping – Why Should Your NPO Care?

Discovery Shopping is the type of shopping where consumers do not know exactly what they are looking for. They “discover” the idea or inspiration and in turn generate the need of a product through some other channel such as social media. Instagram now allows users to tag products within its feed and others who see these products can shop for these products right within the app without leaving the platform. The shopper did not know until he saw the original post that he/she needed that product and when the need was generated/discovered the platform allowed him to immediately act on it – cash in on that impulse.  

Similarly, most of us don’t get out of bed on the morning thinking “I am going to find a new way to donate my money today”, but when we read about someone doing so, we get inspired, chemicals in our body make us feel like we should donate too, but there isn’t an easy, immediate opportunity to do that. So in all honesty we make a mental note to do it later in the day when we get in from of the computer etc. For majority of us this mental note will get buried in a pile of other such very important mental notes only to surface never again.  

For non profit organizations, this is an opportunity lost. Not only an opportunity to raise funds, but also to engage with the donor in a more meaningful way, help them understand its cause, recognizing the impact of their contribution, invitation to events, volunteering etc.

Such integrated platforms that afford the capability of frequent and always available touchpoints with constituents will definitely help navigate the chasm of shrinking gifts.