Marketing issues: Four in five US shoppers seeks value

WARC, 6 March 2014

LIVONIA: A majority of US consumers describe themselves as promotion sensitive or price conscious, with many seeking out print and digital promotions according to a new study.

The Shopper Marketing Report from Valassis, the marketing and media services firm, was based on 1,000 responses from an online consumer opinion panel. It described "an increasingly savvy consumer" who was practised in hunting down opportunities for making savings.

Overall, almost eight in ten consumers considered themselves value seekers, with 40% saying their coupon usage had increased over the past year.

Digital media in its various forms were becoming increasingly important to this process. Fully 71% of those who searched the Web for coupons did so after hearing about it in social media. And 40% had shared or traded coupons on social media, up from 30% in 2012.

But traditional media continued to just edge out digital, with newspapers (52%) and mail (51%) cited as the preferred sources for finding coupons.

Valassis also looked at the shopping behaviour of two particular groups – millennials and Hispanics. Millennials were especially likely to engage in showrooming and to require higher coupon values before they engaged.

That said, 51% of this group indicated that their coupon usage had increased in the past year, the highest level of any group. And fully 92% said they used coupons to plan shopping lists.

The report found clear differences among Hispanic shoppers, who reported that their use of online search, smartphones and frequent shopper/loyalty cards had all increased. They were also significantly more likely than the general population to combine print and digital offers.

Almost all Hispanic internet users (95%) downloaded coupons from retailer websites or mobile apps before shopping. Further, 70% had used a coupon found on social media, a 16 percentage point difference from all consumers.

"These results highlight the need for considering multiple touch points to deliver the right message using the right blend of print, digital and in-store media," said Lisa Reynolds, Valassis Vice President, Brand Strategy and Campaign Solutions.

"With a holistic view of the consumer, marketers can best identify their target audience and optimal ways to reach and activate them along their path to purchase," she added.

Data source from PR Newswire; additional content by Warc staff

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