BCA

There has been a major “paradigm shift” in consumer behaviour in the US, with the recession changing people’s views on value.

Deloitte, the consultancy, conducted a survey of 2,077 main household grocery buyers in America, finding that 84% were examining their spending in every category to try and save money.

A further 79% believed they were “smarter” shoppers than two years ago, and 65% said a decrease in overall expenditure had not exerted a negative impact on their quality of life.

Some 81% of the sample agreed it was “fun” to see how much they would be able to reduce bills using vouchers and loyalty cards.

Two-thirds of participants were more regularly reclaiming coupons, a total that includes the 39% using the web to track down special offers.

Around 60% of contributors also described themselves as having become more “price conscious” in the last 24 months.

In contrast, only 15% were “buying to please myself” with a greater degree of frequency, 11% placed a particular emphasis on new products and 7% exhibited stronger levels of attachment to brands.

In all, 75% of the panel suggested the financial crisis had caused them to realise “which brands I really care about are which ones are less important to me.”

Elsewhere, 80% thought own-label goods were simply repackaged variants of better-known alternatives and 74% were “more open” to experimenting with lines manufactured directly by retailers.

Only two or three brands they could not do without

A majority of consumers said there were only two or three brands which they “could not live without”, and that private label items were of the same or superior standard to more established rivals.

Deloitte argued there are now four distinct audiences which have emerged in the US, adding that each of these groups has unique requirements.

The biggest of these was the “spectators”, comprised of young, high-earning and well-educated adults that had no need to reform prior spending habits.

According to the study, this cohort has a “well-balanced, opportunistic take on resourcefulness” which means its members often make savings out of choice rather than necessity.

“Planners” made up 21% of the potential customer base.

The group’s shared preferences include cooking from scratch rather than eating prepared meals, suggesting they are interested in a wide “product mix.”

At the other end of the spectrum are “sacrificers” – making up 22% of the total base – who are typically on a low income and who have seen their wealth decline in the last two years.

While this group displayed a “certain pride” in carefully managing money, this came at a “steep emotional price” in the form of disappointment at being forced to trade down.

One key way people fitting this profile are trimming costs is through opting for larger pack sizes, even though they were the least likely to have children.

“Super-savers”, 21% of grocery buyers as assessed by Deloitte, were characterised by a “deliberate and concerned effort to increase use of coupons and multiple store shopping”.

Women are the most sizeable portion of this demographic, which generally experienced feelings of “empowerment” and “great pleasure” by containing household budgets.

The battle over surplus margins

“We see a fundamentally changed consumer marketplace paradigm, one in which consumers and marketers do battle over surplus margins, where surplus margin is the difference between the regular price and the discounted effective price,” Deloitte added.

From World Advertising Research Center