Executive Summary on the RAB Finding Consumer Trends Report on Shopping

Transcription

1 Executive Summary on the RAB Finding Consumer Trends Report on Shopping

2 Introduction: In early 2013, the Radio Advertising Bureau and Presslaff Interactive Revenue partnered to provide RAB member stations with a series of Finding Consumer Trend Reports (F.C. T. Reports), national online surveys of local radio listeners lifestyle interests and buying intentions. The first F.C.T survey focused on Automotive. The second report, and the subject of this summary, is focused on Shopping. The Shopping report is based on responses collected between July 16 th and August 5 th, 2013, from radio listeners of 24 broadcast groups, representing over 200 individual radio stations. Survey response was driven through multiple platforms: on-air, online, s to station databases and social media. Listeners were asked to participate in the survey in return for the opportunity to win a $500 gift card. The survey drew over 20,000 responses from across the country and provided insights on holiday shopping habits, examining likely purchases, spending intentions and shopping influences, as well as shopping preferences for other holiday and gift-giving occasions, when people shop, how they feel about shopping and finally, where they shop. Gift Giving Occasions: Children take the cake! Children s birthdays are the number one overall gift-giving occasion among our respondents, followed by Spouse/Partner Birthday and Year-End Holiday Shopping. While Women echoed this sentiment, and in fact ranked Children s Birthdays even higher than the general respondent pool, Men put their Spouse/Partner Birthday first, with Mother s Day and Children s Birthdays, tied at second.

3 Shopping Occasions and Spending: While Birthdays are the biggest gift-giving occasion, Year-End Holiday Shopping gets the biggest bucks. When asked, On which of the following occasions do you spend the most money?" the survey results support what retailers know: it s all about the Year-End Holidays. Year-End Holiday Shopping is the number one response across all age groups, followed by Birthdays. The exception is year olds, who put Birthdays five points higher than Holiday Shopping as their second choice (64% to 59%). Back to School is the number three choice for years olds with Bridal Showers/Weddings taking the third spot 55+. Likely Year-End Holiday Shopping Purchases: Likely purchases for the 4 th quarter holidays include Clothing, Electronics, Movies/DVDs, Restaurant Meals/Gift Cards and Bath and Beauty Products. In the higher price points, just under 40% are looking at Jewelry purchases; just over 1 in 4 are considering Home Entertainment Equipment and one in ten are considering Trips and Vacations this holiday season.

4 Advertisers should welcome Radio Stations ability to target different age groups on behalf of their products. While Clothing and Electronics were the top two choices across all age cells, different age demos prefer different items: Movies and DVDs ranked third for year olds. Restaurant Meals/Gift Cards ranked third for 45+. Items as diverse as Toys, Jewelry, Video Games, Retail Store Gift Cards and Bath/Beauty Products showed as the top 5 selections of different age demos, representing opportunities within each category for different formats. Big ticket items, such as Home Entertainment Equipment, make the Year-End Holiday list for over one in four respondents (27%), and trips and vacations for one out of ten. Likely Year-End Holiday Shopping Spending: How much are these listeners looking to spend? Just under one-third of the respondents say $500 to $1000 this holiday season, with another 30% estimating between $100 and $500; 19% are budgeting $1000 to $2500. Shopping Influencers: We asked what influenced shopping decisions, providing retailer services/options and advertising choices among a long list of respondent options. Overall, the top five influencers were: Sales, Specific Product Need, Free Shipping, s from the Store and Referrals from Friends and Family (shown on the chart as WOM Word of Mouth).

5 We singled out those respondents who chose Radio Advertising as one of their answers to the Influence question and discovered interesting trends: 1) Those showing Radio Advertising influencing their spending are bigger Year-End Holiday spenders: These respondents show up 5 points higher than the general respondents in the $1,000-$2,500 category for usual Year-End Holiday Shopping. Nearly one in four (24%) of this Radio influenced group say they usually spend $1,000 to $2,500 vs. nearly one in five (19%) for the overall respondent pool.

6 2) Similarly, those showing Radio Advertising influences their shopping are 6 points more likely to spend more on holiday shopping this year as compared to last year. (20% Radio Influence spend more as compared to 14% of all respondents.) Similarly, they are 4 points more likely to spend online more and to shop locally in small stores more than they did last year. (Note that in general, Year-End Holiday spending is holding steady between last year and this year, with 60% saying they will spend the same, 24% saying they will spend less and 14% saying they will spend more.) 3) Digging deeper into the Year-End Holiday spend question, when singling out and comparing the influence of Radio, Television and Newspapers advertising to each other, we find Radio leading the other two media in Spending More on Holiday Shopping, Shopping IN STORE (tie with TV), Shopping LOCALLY in Smaller Stores and Shopping ONLINE, each more as compared to last year.

7 4) Advertising works! Items likely to be purchased this Year-End Holiday Shopping were consistently higher for those influenced by Radio Advertising, than the general pool: Electronics 9 points higher. (Radio Influence: 75% to All: 66%) Jewelry 8 points higher. (Radio Influence 47% to All: 39%) Home Entertainment Equipment 10 points higher. (Radio: 37%. All: 27%) Furniture Housewares/Home Décor 8 points higher. (Radio: 34%. All: 26%) Spa/Salon Certificates 6 points higher. (Radio: 22%. All: 16%) Other Gift Giving Opportunities: There s more to gift-giving than Year-End Holidays. Valentine s Day is perfect for the purchase of Candy, going out to Restaurants, buying Flowers, Jewelry and Bath and Beauty products. Women s top Valentine s Day purchase is Candy (56%); Men s is Flowers (55%), and three in ten men are likely to purchase Jewelry. Similarly, Mother s Day and Father s Day are a boon to Restaurants (Dinner Out was the first choice at 40%; Restaurant Gift Cards ranked number five), with Flowers (34%), Clothing (28%) and Bath & Beauty Products(23%) ranking second, third and fourth respectively. Timing of Shopping: Most Shopping is done on Weekends and Evenings, by both men and women, giving radio a strong advantage in reaching shoppers during these key periods.

8 Additionally, 42% of respondents indicate they do their general gift-giving shopping a week or so ahead of time, with another 21% indicating they do so weeks in advance and 19% a couple of days before. This emphasizes the importance of retailers advertising well in advance of wellknown gift-giving occasions and more importantly, reminding consumers that they can be their gift-giving destination throughout the year. When looking at Year-End Holiday Shopping, 79% do their shopping throughout the holiday season, including 50% who shop on Black Friday and 34% who shop on Cyber Monday. One in four wait for after Christmas sales to shop for gifts. Feelings About Shopping: When asked about their feelings about shopping, respondents overwhelmingly chose I make certain that I m getting the best deal possible. Results then varied by gender with Men s second choice being I just want to get it done and over with. I m not really much of a shopper (30%) and I buy brands and items that really reflect my personality (28%). Women followed getting the best deal with buying brands that reflect my personality (38%) and It relaxes me and puts me in a good mood (36%). Notably, only 17% of Men indicated that shopping puts them in a good mood.

9 Speaking of Deals: When asked, How often do you use coupons/daily deals/special offers for your gift shopping? just over half (51%) said sometimes, 31% said all the time, 15% rarely and only 3% never. Preferred Stores: Having covered what people are shopping for, when and why, our very last data point focuses on where people shop. Respondents were asked where they typically shop, allowing them to select all store options that applied. Without fail, Discount Retailers (exemplified by Target, Walmart and Kmart, etc.) were the number one choice, at 79%, followed by Department Stores (such as Macy s, JC Penney, Sears, etc.) at 62% and Discount Department Stores (i.e., TJ Maxx,

10 Kohl s, Marshalls, etc.) at 59%. Online shopping was the fourth choice of the group; Electronics Stores rounded out the top five. Over one-third expect to shop at Local Retailers (34%), with a slightly higher margin going to Drug Stores (36%) and Local Shopping Malls and Outlets (38% each.) Those selling a more specialized product were also mentioned: Home Décor, 37%, Sporting Goods Stores, 31% and Craft Stores, 23%. In summary: Year-End Holiday ranks as the top shopping event of the year followed by birthdays. While all respondents want to get the best deal, the male and female attitudes towards shopping vary greatly. This is a key insight that retailers should consider when targeting these two diverse groups. While the majority of consumers will shop weeks in advance, a lot of shopping is done during the season. o Most shopping is done on evenings and weekends. This is a strong advantage for radio as research shows that radio is the top device used when consumers are in the car. Respondents that are influenced by Radio Advertising are apt to spend more than the general respondent pool.