With the cost of living in New Zealand rising, and Kiwis tightening their purse strings, businesses need to ensure their marketing campaigns focus on value for money says market research company Toluna New Zealand.
Toluna’s ‘Global Consumer Barometer Study’ found that the increase in cost of living is changing the way almost three quarters of Kiwis are spending their hard earned cash.
Stephen Walker Regional Director of Toluna New Zealand, says it is “important that businesses evolve the way they position and market themselves” to suit the current market.
“As we emerge from the pandemic, the rising cost of living is now one of the biggest issues for Kiwis. Our research shows that Kiwis are noticing price increases across a number of categories, and are changing their behaviours as way of trying to combat this.”
This behaviour change includes brand switching, shopping around to find the best price, eating out less, and delaying large household purchases.
“Price changes are also impacting consumers’ plans when it comes to eating out and socialising with friends, right down to being conscious about shower timings and making sure all lights are switched off.”
Survey respondents said they would tackle these rising costs by forgoing eating out, ordering takeaways, purchasing premium brand products along with other recreational spending such as going to bars and pubs, overseas travel and gambling.
To tackle grocery price increases 31 percent of Kiwi shoppers are planning to change the brands they normally buy and buy more generic brands, while 30 percent plan to buy in bulk, 26 percent are changing the amount of snacks they purchase and 24 percent will shop around to find the best price. Twenty four percent of shoppers also plan to switch supermarkets to find a cheaper alternative.
One company campaign tapping into this consumer mood consistently well according to Walker is PAK’nSAVE.
“PAK’nSAVE is an example of a retailer that has consistently been pushing their price/value messaging, reiterating its policy of providing ‘New Zealand’s Lowest Food prices’. In a climate where 85 percent of Kiwis are being impacted by the rising cost of grocery items, this kind of messaging is going to be important given shoppers are going out of their way to find the lowest prices.”
According to Toluna’s survey, 84 percent of New Zealand shoppers have noticed the rising cost of fresh food, 68 percent noticed frozen food was getting more expensive and 63 percent noted the rising cost of dry pantry food such as biscuits, pasta, etc.
As well as the rising cost of groceries, Kiwis responded that they were also noticing an increase in price in other areas such as eating out, ordering takeaway, buying clothes and beauty and skincare products, booking holidays, and buying electrical goods.
Campaigns for items such as the Kathmandu BioDown jacket is also tapping into another subject at the forefront on consumers’ minds – sustainability and longevity.
“Less overtly, Kathmandu is using clever advertising to market its new BioDown Jackets, showcasing the fact that not only are these jackets sustainable and biodegradable, but their durability means the same jacket can be worn over many generations,” Walker says.
“Although price is of immediate concern to shoppers, previous research has shown us that buying sustainably is becoming increasingly important for shoppers, so this is a great example of demonstrating value over the long term.”
