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

Power of the Brand in Convenience Channels

It is often said that convenience stores are hotbeds of impulse purchasing.

According to our Convenience Shopper Canada study, among those who buy soft drinks in those channels, 66% had made up their mind on category and brand before entering the store.

Granted, 13% knew they would be buying a soft drink and decided brand in store and 21% decided to buy the category in the store.

But that's an awful lot of power from out of store communication.