Internet Increases Consumers’ Confidence to Part with Cash
According to Webpronews.com, online shoppers are loosening the grips on their wallets, but continuing to be cautious about where and how they spend their cash. To secure their business, online retailers need to persuade consumers that they’re offering the best product at the best price. Written by the staff of Webpronews, they covered the recent surge in online searches for store coupons. The Internet is fast becoming the favored place to search for coupons with a rise of 46% in the number of people who never use newspaper coupons. In addition, Hitwise recently reported a significant rise in the use of search terms relating to money-saving techniques. Read the rest of the article, here.
Shopping habits change at the grocery store
In a recent article at MLive, Michael Twitty of Unilever gave us a look at how consumers are changing their shopping habits during this challenging economic period. He stated that the sales of beer and wine have not decreased. This maybe becuase consumers are able to keep some portion of their previous lifestyles the same, and vary from consumer to consumer as the shopping decisions are very personal. For the entire article, read here.
Shoppers Trade Down to Private Brands
According to a report covered by CNNMoney.com, shoppers trading down to private brands is among the most prevalent changes in shopping behavior. Specific stores that have seen this change include Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Kohls. Each of these stores have extended their private label offerings to entice shoppers and keep them shopping in the stores. The CNNMoney report also says that retailers also will likely downsize their packaging, store size and even their growth expectations, as part of a long-term trend to emerge from the economic downturn that's changed consumer behavior. The report covered in the CNN article was from a joint report of consulting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Retail Forward.
U.S. shoppers likely to remain frugal
According to a report released by Reuters, U.S. shoppers likely to remain frugal as the economic crisis wages on. The report says that, this signals continued bad news for retailers, who have been struggling to respond to a dramatic cutback in spending as consumers have opened their wallets only for essential items, while cutting back on extraneous purchases.
For more information on this report, please visit the original article here.
American Malls will Survive
This post on RetailWire discusses how even though many people believe that the American mall is heading nowhere quick, chances are that they will survive, as the strong "get stronger."
David Simon, the chairman and chief executive of Simon Property Group, believes that malls will change in order to cope with the times. People are stepping into less and less stores inside malls now, and because of this malls will have to change their communication to customers to lure them into more stores. Simon also leaves with this notion, "seven of the top 10 tenants we had when we went public are no longer in business today, and yet we've been able to continue to grow our business because it's the real estate that retains the value over the long term." Interesting thoughts...
2009 will bring in new interests in food preperation
In a new article at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, they report that shopping habits to cook and prepare food will be taking a tip back in time to pressure cookers, slow cookers, and canning jars as well as growing their own food. A few of their main points:
> Vegetable seed sales are skyrocketing, as people plan gardens to help cut food costs.
> And perhaps most surprising, purchases of pressure cookers, slow cookers and canning supplies are way up.
Read the article here.
Teen Niche Concepts are Failing
Many retailers are struggling with the teen niche concept during the past couple of months. This post on RetaiWire discusses how companies like Pacific Sunwear, American Eagle, The Finish Line, and Abercrombie & Fitch have all closed different concepts that were targeted at slightly different customers than their flagship chain.
Special niches like skate/surf crowd, club kids or slightly older customers have pushed retailers in the past to create special concepts, but the Journal mentions that many of these niches are overestimated. Creating special niches have at times led stores to take their eyes off their main core business.
Costco Heads Down Under
Costco, the American retailer that rivals Sam's Club with wholesale prices available to the general public with membership with soon be heading to Australia. According to The Australian, Costco Australia managing director Patrick Noone said the store in Melbourne's inner-city Docklands precinct would open five months ahead of its original schedule, but the timing was perfect to attract shoppers on tighter household budgets. Will Aussies take a liking to big amounts and low prices? We'd like to hear your thoughts.
What’s coming for shoppers in the future?
In a recent article at the Hub, Sonja Mathews, PepsiCo; Mark Scott, Kimberly-Clark; John Glace, Johnson & Johnson; and Jason Sorley, Marketing Drive discuss some of the trends they see coming in shopper marketing and how shoppers are behaving once they enter a store.
When Sonja Matthews was asked about new, exciting in-store innovations, she shared a new concept being used in Spain:
Shoppers can use a handheld device that maps out not only the fastest route to get their shopping done, but also makes suggestions based on their available funds, time, and other areas of interest. It’s like a GPS for shoppers. So, for the shopper who is time starved or who is looking for an adventure, it’s going to give them what they need. I love this technology more than anything else that I have seen because it matches the shopper mission to the right products and store venue.