UK Consumers Shop for Value but Don't Compromise on Quality

Consumers are looking for lower prices but are not willing to sacrifice quality, according to new research from Datamonitor.

It found UK consumers are among the most skeptical in the world, with 90% believing the country is in recession and a further 47% experiencing a worsening personal financial situation between October 2008 and April 2009.

Therefore, it is not surprising lower prices are a big influence on where UK consumers do most of their grocery shopping, says Datamonitor.

Consumers shop around for value but won't compromise on quality

However, the primary influence on purchasing is the overall quality of products sold. This demonstrates the want it all attitude of many consumers in the UK, say researchers.

Only 36% of respondents in the UK said habit is an important influence on where they shop for groceries, suggesting store loyalty is not high.

The research found consumers are willing to shop around to obtain better value with 71% in the UK stating they question more whether they are getting value-for-money from their grocery purchases.

In addition, almost one third of consumers are changing where they do their grocery shopping in a bid to save money.

Other approaches employed by UK consumers included redeeming coupons to obtain discounts, using a shopping list and not buying any additional items.

“This provides opportunities for those industry players that can successfully find the value sweet spot, whereby the product or service meets or exceeds quality expectations, but at a price that is slightly less than expected,” said Daniel Bone, Datamonitor analyst and report author.

Private labels are more widely accepted among consumers, reports Datamonitor.

While some brand loyalty could be seen among UK consumers, 43% agreed they had recently given up some of their favorite grocery brands.

Datamonitor research found only 15% said they rarely or never buy private label products, while 39% could be classed as regular purchasers in this area.

In some categories, consumers see little difference in the quality of private label products when compared to market-leading brands and this represents the challenge for some marketers.

For example, 46% of UK respondents felt private label food products were identical to branded equivalents, while a further 7% said private label was superior in this field.

According to Datamonitor, it is likely consumers will maintain their purchasing patterns when economic conditions improve if they are satisfied with the quality of private label goods.

Evidence of a recessionary mindset is most apparent in the home, reports Datamonitor with many UK consumers making changes to their lives at home in order to conserve funds.

Overall, 43% said they had made more efforts to cook from scratch and use fewer convenience foods in the past year, while 38% were planning to cut back on their consumption of prepared food.

In the area of personal care, the majority of consumers had not changed their consumption patterns. More than half - 53% - of UK consumers felt it was important to look their best and this has helped the sector to develop a degree of resistance to recessionary conditions.

The most prominent action taken to save money in this field is to ensure that health and beauty products are fully used up before replacing them in order to save money, popular with 16% of consumers.

The alcoholic drinks market in the UK has traditionally fared well in recessionary times and, while many consumers in the UK are mindful of the amount of money they spend on alcohol, the majority had not changed their consumption behavior in this field, say researchers.

The affordable luxury status of the alcoholic drinks industry has been maintained, and while some declines have been reported in the on-trade, the sector as a whole has performed reasonably well in current unfavorable conditions.

Purchases of household care products remain inherently price-driven in the UK and this is largely true in any economic climate, adds Datamonitor.

“Consumers’ emotional attachment is more likely to emanate from their relative time scarcity and dislike of doing household chores. So, while UK consumers in this sector are highly conscious of price-led value, they are careful about making product choices that might make household chores more arduous than necessary,” said Bone.