Henkel, a German megacorp who produce personal care brands like Right Guard and Schwarzkopf for global markets, have been recently digging round in their customers' shopping lives in order to find out what makes them tick in a handing-over-the-cash context. In order to sell more goodies, of course.
The study, The Shoppers' Perspective, was carried out in the US and examined three years of data from multiple retail channels, covering 300 food and non-food categories commonly carried in supermarkets.
One of the things they discovered is that spending patterns don't necessarily correlate to income level and age or size of household. I could have told them that, (after all, they've never seen me in the supermarket, idly throwing a whole load of crap into my basket, disregarding budget entirely) but after they picked themselves up off the floor and dusted themselves down, what they've come up with is the less surprising following.
It turns out that, in America at least, there are three types of shoppers:
Advertised
- THEY SAY:
Shoptimizers are most likely to be influenced in their choices by pre-shopping stimuli such as circulars and coupons. In fact, this group accounts for virtually 100% of coupon usage.
I SAY
Uh, definitely not me!
- THEY SAY
Mainstreeters do far less pre-planning and rarely save coupons, so their store choices are more likely to be influenced by location, convenience and price reputation. This group is highly sensitive to in store messaging and promotions.
I SAY
I wish I was this organised
- THEY SAY
Carefrees bypass pre-planning, and once inside the store, tend to ignore prices and promotions and simply buy what they like.
I SAY
Bingo! I don't like being called after a panty liner, though
Do you fit into any of the three categories, or do you reckon this is all a load of boswellox? Leave us a comment and lets get debatin'!
