Canadian Shopper Behaviour and The Recession

In the words of The Onion's Jim Anchower, it's been a while since I rapped at ya. I have been too busy reports from with Convenience Shopper Canada and World of the Shopper.

The later gives us some insight into changing shopper behaviour in the recession. As I mentioned below, Canadians are far less likely to have changed behaviour than Americans. We certainly are not seeing dramatic channel shifts.

We do see some changes though.

Primarily we are seeing a change in the “stock up trip”. It has increased in value primarily due to increased spending per trip (which has not occurred for quick trips). The triggers are now more likely to be a combination of non-perishables and perishables. There is also increased pre-planning and checking flyers prior to the visit.

Final interesting thing - a decline of the male quick trip. As households pre-plan and consolidate their trips that last minute ingredients grab drops

Recessionary Shopper Behaviour a Non-Story in Canada. Sorry.

We're desperate to report some news on how shoppers are making dramatic changes to their their shopping habits because of the recession.

Problem is that they haven't here in Canada.

Sure there are some changes but we are not seeing the kind of channel shifts to supercentre and dollar stores that they see at the moment in America.

We just completed our 2009 World of the Shopper research and do not see dramatic changes to channel choice. We see some more pre-planning (flyer checking has increased) and shifts in trip triggers. We can see some greater focus on pricing and we also see a higher value stock up trip while quick trips remain flat.

Oh, and by the way, in the last issue of Canadian Grocer Nielsen is reporting that that private label is not disproportionately growing here either.

Sorry. I know everyone wants some news about the recession. And I know journalists are trying to fill pages with anecdotal stuff about 'recessionistas' but the fact is that we haven't changed much. When people are skeptical I ask them simply "what have you changed?". Usually there is some micro and in store behaviour but not major shifts.

Is more rubbish research one of the consequences of the recession?

Is it just me or is anyone else finding that every day there is a press release on some new banal and useless research findings about consumer behaviour in the recession?

I just put down a marketing magazine that provided on page 10 such insights as - "Cool" scored lower than "cheap" and "inexpensive" in what kind of message would make 13 to 29 year olds pay attention to an ad.

Question: Has "cool" been rated more important than "cheap" or "inexpensive" by consumers in any survey ever? No. So why report it?

The same magazine tells me on page 35 that 95% of Canadians believe that "better value for money" is important when buying products.

And then some blather on "austerity chic" on other pages.

It is bad enough that the recession slices our savings in half, puts our jobs in jeopardy without also subjecting us to this rubbish.

Message to my fellow researchers: I know it's nice to see your name in a magazine but please stop putting out this stuff. It makes people think we're...well, useless.

What will happen?

Everyone is asking that, eh? And no one knows. I am preparing a presentation on changing Canadian shopper behaviour in economic hard times and am looking back to the last recession in 1990 to see what Canadians did. But so much has changed since then it is hard to call.

A couple of things are coming up - "health & wellness" will stay a consumer motive - because it is driven by demographics. Green consumerism ... not so sure. Partly because some of the data I have been looking at make it apparent that currently a lot of it is more consumerism than green.

So much of what is happening in the States ...the shift to private labels and general merchandise for grocery shopping is not relevant here.

The End of Consumerism

Well, I know that is a dramatic overstatement. But this is a blog....

What I think we can see however is something of a shift in values in the West. We always do in a recession. These are usually fairly superficial and would hardly constitute a challenge to consumerism as an ideology. Since the second world war it has become assumed that consumerism is some kind of natural state and that the best organized societies are those that place consumer satisfaction at the centre of all their major institutions.

This is already being challenged by the climate crisis and concern for the environment. A global recession and credit crunch will contribute to that challenge. We already see signs such as the "simplicity movement".

But the key here is demographics. The baby boomers undermined many social institutions and ideologies. But they championed consumerism with its emphasis on individualism and choice. They are being forced to reject it as they age and their income shrinks and of course they will eventually start dying. What we will see is how the millenials' values will be shaped by the coming austerity. That could be the key to a significant shift in Western social values.