What the future has ‘in store’
BELLEVUE, Wash. The Hartman Group is teaming up with GfK Custom Research North America on the launch of a new syndicated study, called Future Buy, to depict what retailing strategy will look like in the future as American shoppers emerge on the other side of the current economic crisis.
The overarching goal of the Future Buy Shopper Innovation study is to define the new meaning of “value” and determine what broad cultural values now influence and impact the way people live, shop and use products — and will in the future. “There are some obvious components of value [around which] consumers have historically defined [value],” Michelle Barry, SVP of the Hartman Group, explained to Drug Store News. “Quality, quantity and price — that’s the triumvirate that’s been predominant as consumers think about what does value mean across categories.”
The premise behind the Future Buy report is to ascertain whether that traditional definition of value has expanded or shifted within consumer minds by tracking their purchase patterns — where they buy, what they buy and how much they buy. “What we’re trying to understand is price and convenience and some of the more pragmatic, traditional notions of value more important to consumers right now during an economic crisis than more emotional, entertaining [and] experiential dimensions,” she said. “And, if so, is this a long-term trajectory?”
As of press time, the Hartman Group and GfK were only a few weeks into the project. But some of the early learnings included that, regardless of actual income, consumers are more and more becoming thrifty shoppers. “We’re seeing that play out in a couple of ways,” Barry said. “As a coping mechanism, finding that bargain actually generates a buzz, allowing consumers to relax. It ameliorates that sense of anxiety and concern about the economy as a whole.”
Accordingly, shoppers are more and more looking for deals on quality products, and they’re looking for those deals online. And not necessarily in the traditional sense, where consumers might go to the Web sites of their favorite products in search of an online coupon, Barry reported, they’re creating and utilizing local online shopping support groups. “They’re very local groups, grassroots, where [consumers] get online and start talking about [where sales or coupons can be found],” Barry said. “It’s not happening on Myspace or Twitter as much as its happening among these indigenous groups — they’re all over the place and very local,” she said. “They’re a little hard to find and tend to be in [urban locales] … where there is a broader choice of retails [from which] to choose.”
Additionally, consumers are not necessarily open to trying new products or brands these days, instead relying on products and brands they know will deliver a good experience. “They’re really sticking with the familiar — that tried and true product with brands they already love,” Barry said. “They’re not trading down from quality … instead they’re taking some different approaches to shopping for quality products.”
That suggests shoppers are increasing the frequency of trips, buying less each time as compared to trips prior to the economic woes, and they’re increasing the number of channels in which they shop. “We’ve seen the multichannel phenomena really expand, much more so than we would have predicted,” Barry said.
The study will be available July 2009, Hartman Group and GfK have reported.