Humza Mahfooz - Shopper Marketing Hero

Our last two Shopper Marketing Heroes from March and April were both US-based. To bring some diverse perspective, we picked an international nominee this time.

Meet our May Shopper Marketing Hero: Humza Mahfooz, Trade Visibility and Customer Collaboration Manager at Unilever Pakistan.

He was nominated by Umair Iqbal who shared the impressive work Humza has done:

"[Humza]Used eye tracking and Neuromarketing tools( GSR- Galvanic Skin Response, EEG- Electroencephogram, Facial expressions and Pulse rate) to understand the unconscious shopper behaviour, and based on these insights identify shopper path to purchase and showcase the finding in virtual reality."

I wanted to learn more about Humza and what compelled him to study applications of neuroscience in Shopper Marketing. So I reached out to him for a brief interview.

OY: When and how did you come to work in shopper marketing?

HM: I started my shopper journey when I joined Unilever to understand the impact of in-store advertising through Neuro-marketing and devising shopper marketing strategies

OY: What skills and experiences, in your opinion, are important to be successful in shopper marketing?

HM: There are three areas where I feel a person should be an expert while designing Shopper Marketing strategies: 1. In-depth knowledge of the Channel one is dealing in; 2. Category expertise. 3. Complete understanding of shopper missions

OY: What is your shopper marketing "super power"?

HM: More than 60% of shopping is done through subconscious mind. My super power is to understand the reptilian brain of shopper through Neuro-marketing tools like Eye Tracking, Electroencephalogram (EEG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), Pulse Rate/Heart Rate and post testing qualitative interviews.

OY: What fascinates you about shopper marketing?

HM: I am fascinated by the subconscious shopper behavior!

OY: What advice do you have for young shopper marketers or those who are interested in a shopper marketing career?

HM: We already know a lot about the shopper behavior and we are yet to find out a lot of things but before moving forward. I believe there is a very important leg which is missing, and that is the human leg, because before a shopper is a shopper, he/she is a human being. I think understanding the human being is a pre-requisite for shopper marketing because the way a shopper shops in-store is a small fraction of his/her overall human behavior.