Over sixty companies attended the recent Insight Session held in Bord Bia around Tomorrow’s Shopper – the evolution of the shopper in Ireland and the UK. At the breakfast session, Bord Bia presented our latest research in this area, with two additional speakers – Ethan Sinick focussing on Tomorrow’s Retailer and Graham Merriman looking at how companies can respond to these digital changes.
In our report, four key drivers are identified as impacting the shoppers’ behaviour:
- Continued economic pressures affecting how and where we shop. Two thirds of shoppers now pre-plan their grocery visit, which in turn means brands need to work harder at point of sale to “interrupt” the shopper.
- With increasing need for convenience, smaller format stores are on the rise with people shopping more at their convenience stores on their path to purchase.
- The shopper increasingly wants greater transparency and to know where their food is coming from. Companies need to respond to this to build trust with the shopper.
- The rise of digital technology will be a macro driver and enabler for how we will interact with brands in the future. By 2015, 9 out of 10 of Irish people will own a smartphone and by the end of this year smartphones in the UK with outnumber PCs. With the rise of 4G networks we will see greater upload and download speeds enabling better interactions with brands and shoppers. Brands need to be aware of the various channels in which shoppers interact on their path to purchase and have a corresponding multi-channel digital strategy looking at online, mobile and social commerce.
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