Cheap is not so cheerful as Irish consumers want more value from their household purchases, a study by Group M shows. The survey showed that 93 per cent of people interviewed said they are more careful about how they spend their money and more than three in four see a negative impact on their household due to the rise in the cost of living.
While people are acutely aware of the rise in the cost of living, costs are still above people’s already high expectations, especially when it comes to changing gas or electricity provider and the weekly shop. For 73 per cent of people who recently switched energy provider, and for 55 per cent of grocery shoppers, their latest spend was more than they expected.
Cost of car insurance or a TV subscription service are more likely to be in line with people’s expectations. People are not feeling the pinch in the same way for all purchases and that will impact on how and where they shop. Eimear McGrath, research director, Group M, said even now, price or being ‘cheaper’ is not the main influence in every decision.
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Respondents were given the choice of choosing a product or service that is cheaper than others or good value. In all categories, with the exception of changing gas or electricity provider, people don’t want cheaper – they want value. Value will differ from category to category and the research points to the importance for brands of knowing what value means.
With grocery shopping, after value people want familiarity; for a TV subscription service, after value people want quality, which could be in the form of better content or user experience. “We wanted to use this research to show that, yes, people are feeling the impact of rising household costs but not all purchases are the same within this context,” McGrath said.
Touchpoints
“Our study also examines the touchpoints people notice and find helpful within each journey – and we see how these differ dependent on the task in-hand. For example, when it comes to influencing our grocery shopping, TV is the lead touchpoint but we see in second place is the importance of retailer apps which have come to the fore with improved functionality.”
GroupM Ireland asked consumers about their purchase decisions across four household categories: changing gas or electricity provider, renewing or taking out car insurance, doing their regular main grocery shop and taking out or renewing a TV subscription service. Sample size was 300 per group, total sample size was 1,237 across the Republic of Ireland.
The fieldwork was done in January.
