Marketing company Epsilon just released the results of its recent survey of 1,500 shoppers, exploring which types of products the newly frugal are abandoning for store brands, and which ones they are not.
Shoppers were most loyal to child care and pet care products — two categories where "trading down" to a house brand can make the buyer feel guilty. But a majority have traded down when it comes to food and household products, and nearly as many are opting to the house brand when it comes to health and personal care.
The report also shows a not-so-surprising rise in coupon usage: One out of three respondents said they use coupons more today than they did a year ago.
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"Perceived risk, that's what is driving these key consumer decisions. This is the kind of insight that national brands can use to reach customers with promotions that meet their needs and bring them back," said ICOM Marketing Director Warren Storey. "These results highlight that understanding customer psychology, and tailoring promotions accordingly, is a significantly more effective win-back strategy than scatter-shot, one-size-fits-all offers." A separate ICOM survey in April firmly established the grocery store as the epicenter of the American consumer's coupon activity. In that survey of 1,827 Americans, 86.5% of respondents who said they had used coupons in the last month identified the grocery store as the place of redemption. The grocery far outpaced its closest competitors, which included restaurants at 46.5%, department stores and mass merchants such as Wal-Mart at 41.3%, and drug stores at 34.9%. |
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