understanding value
6 March, 2009 at 5:42 pm 2 comments
Like many other Planners I suspect, I’ve been pulling together a lot of insight pieces for work recently looking at the effect of the downturn economy on buying behaviour.
Since it’s proper paid-for-by-my-employer stuff drawing on all the groups and depths the research team have been doing with mums recently, I can’t really share it in full here, but one of the most interesting things that came out is about the broadening definition of what ‘value’ means for UK shoppers – and it’s NOT just about cheaper prices:
- for many hardcore premium supermarket shoppers, it’s still about the store delivering value via a less stressful shopping experience (no screaming kids or muzak)
- value is getting tied into brands providing a rationale for purchase, ‘ammunition’ to justify spending money on non-essentials while other people are skint
- value can also mean a reassurance of quality (which is where big brands still have a role to play), or can be about delivering quantity (a dozen Value loo rolls) or even minimal packaging – mums seem to have finally woken up to the fact that they have been paying over the odds for overpackaged goods
- value can even be delivered via advice, in terms of how to use up leftovers or quick and healthy meal ideas
- when it comes down to it, value is now all about delivering an acceptable compromise to conflicted mums struggling with tight budgets
Entry filed under: recession, trends. Tags: brands, buying behavior, cooking, credit crunch, economy, insight, recession, shopping, supermarket, trends, value.
1. Mark Hadfield | 7 March, 2009 at 10:41 am
Absolutely spot on I think. It’s not about cheaper, it’s about better value and value can be many things.
From a marketing perspective I think lots of people are distilling one part of this down into being ‘nice.’ Adding value through the experience as well as the product. If we can give financial value as well as a good product, fine, but that may not be good enough in the current climate. It’s also about other stuff, too. Help me live better on less money, give me help in other parts of my life, understand the position i’m in, talk to me – I mean truly talk to me. It all helps.
2. the New Normal #3 – shifting values « (almost) always thinking | 23 July, 2009 at 12:06 pm
[...] they spend it on and why, the ballpark has shifted considerably in the last 12 months. I’ve already blogged about how ‘value’ means far more than just cheap prices, but I’m increasingly interested in the shift in values that has accompanied [...]