APN Outdoor’s research has identified brand trust and familiarity as the most influential factors on consumer purchasing decisions.

The ‘Path to Purchase’ study explored motivating factors for consumer purchases in the FMCG, highly considered and every day categories.

The report claims, in the FMCG category, trust and familiarity are most important when selecting pain relief products, shampoo and breakfast cereal. These factors were least important when choosing clothing, beer or potato chips.

APN Outdoor found that familiarity was very important when purchasing expensive products or those that require greater consideration, including cars or home loans. 85% of consumers confirmed familiarity was a deciding factor in these purchases.

Everyday products bought on trust and familiarity included telecommunications, fast food and make-up, the report found.

78% of respondents saw shopping centres as cluttered environments, with 73% agreeing that store location was more likely to influence their purchasing behaviour than shopping centre advertising. Nearly 50% rarely noticed advertising in a shopping centre.

“The ideal formula for sales success is to build trust and familiarity during the customers’ path to purchase then remind them of this relationship at the point of sale,” said Paul McBeth, general manager of marketing with APN Outdoor.