5 questions to ask in order to meet the growing trend of planned purchasing.
As more and more consumers carefully plan their major purchases, marketers of high-end home brands need to adapt accordingly. Research shows that affluent consumers are thinking more carefully before buying. Indeed, nearly half of consumer spending (non-food) is now carefully planned, according to a recent study by the UK property development company, Hammerson.
Marketers of high-end home brands need to understand what’s driving this trend, as well as how to adapt to meet it.
Hammerson calls this shopper the “Considered Consumer,” someone who is much less concerned about purely acquiring stuff, and instead, focuses more on a brand’s quality and real value. As I stated in a recent post about Affluents, it’s less about the logo and more about what the logo stands for.
So what’s driving this trend? Clearly, consumers are utilizing more retail channels and online resources than they relied upon in previous years. In addition, the path-to-purchase has grown longer, with time spent browsing, evaluating, and comparing taking 3.4 days on average, compared to 0.5 days just ten years ago. And while shoppers are less enthusiastic about deep, regular discounting, nearly two-thirds of consumers will wait until a product is on sale before buying – and nearly three-quarters of consumers say they rarely purchase items at full price anymore.
I know. It’s enough to make you dizzy. But there are a few things you can do in order to ensure that your brand adapts to meet this trend. Let me suggest that you start by giving some honest and intentional thought to these five questions:
1. Are we offering an experience along our path-to-purchase that is seamless between our online and retail channels?
2. How can we better inform our consumers online, while better indulging them in the store?
3. Are there ways that we can make online researching and evaluating less of a chore?
4. How can we increase spend by enticing consumers off of their smartphones and tablets and into the store?
5. Are there more effective ways to manage promotional activities without deep, regular discounting?
I don’t believe that the “Considered Consumer” will be going away anytime soon, and neither does Hammerson. So we’d better make sure that we can stay relevant and meaningful to them.
If you’re interested in the full report, I would highly recommend it.
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