Shopping Motivations are Changing
July 10, 2020
We Are Now Seeking Foods to Lift our Mood
Now CLE’s indicate significant changes in motivations for grocery store purchases
In early May 2020 we asked CLE what they were NOT comfortable doing in regard to dining:
Clean Label Enthusiasts are now shifting from buying products primarily related to the functionality they provide, to seeking out products that will lift their mood and provide additional sensorial experiences.
Motivations are organized in one of four ways: Functional, Social, Sensorial, & Psychological.
By organizing the motivations this way, we are better able to align underlying emotional drivers and estimate which motivations will take priority as people adjust to COVID realities.
Functional health and safety motivators
are central to everyone now as consumers feel their basic human needs are threatened – safety & protection, health, and preparedness.
Sensorial Motivators
56% of new product purchases at the end June were driven by a desire to satisfy cravings for specific sensory experiences.
This is up from 11% in March.
Social Motivators
important due to changes in family relationships, peer-to-peer social relationships, who we trust, and our feelings toward ourselves.
Psychological Motivators
help people achieve balance in their lives. Psychological balance is achieved through mood change.
We are seeing great change in motivations:
Functional health and safety motivators
are still important even though they have dropped from 84% of purchases in March to 54% at the end of June.
Sensorial Motivators
56% of new product purchases at the end June were driven by a desire to satisfy cravings for specific sensory experiences.
This is up from 11% in March.
Social Motivators
providing healthy alternatives for family members or responding to recommendations from friends also increase from 24% in March to 44% at end of June.
However, as the eve of July 4th approached there was a notable absent uptick in purchasing products for holiday parties. This is consistent across all major holidays we’ve seen during the pandemic (Easter/Passover, Memorial Day, and Independence Day). Social has been focused on enhancing family communications versus friends and other social encounters.
Psychological Motivators
61% of new product purchases at the end of June were driven by a desire to lift or change moods.
This is up from 6% in March.
Opportunities for Consumer Product Companies And Retailers:
Functional Motivators
Positioning products to deliver health and safety benefits remains important to shoppers.
- Find new opportunities to highlight these values, however as shoppers become accustomed to new store flows,
- Find new ways to focus their attention on the products, rather than on the movement patterns.
Sensorial Motivators
Sensorial cravings stem from experiences people are deprived of.
- Look into which experiences they are most missing and
- Focus marketing and messaging on the proper replacement or reminder of those experiences.
- Avoid reminding people of experiences which they are not able to re-create (e.g. large gatherings).
Psychological Motivators
Ideas for impulse products:
- Where are the eyes drawn in store now? Put product and advertising there.
- Where are eyes going that are not valuable to enhance their safety or shopping experience? Change those!
Predictions:
New product innovations are not far away – however we need to solve the lack of impulse buys. With the new shopping experiences impulse buys continue to be low. Finding a way to focus attention on the impulse buy space is difficult with the safety measures drawing the shoppers attention at check-out. Retailers and marketers should focus on finding ways to draw attention without compromising safety.
Social events MAY still take time in the USA. When social becomes more realistic, there will be a jump in event based foods.
BUT WHY WAIT? Be proactive and create a campaign that can create a shared food experience virtually!
