With the mass upheaval in retail, marketers are searching for any remaining growth opportunities. This includes one of our CPG clients who came to us for guidance; specifically wanting to know, “are there other channels we could be focusing on?” Given the growth this channel has seen, online has garnered a big portion of the focus. But, online is an obvious one so I wanted to see if there are other channels that could also provide opportunities. So as a researcher, I did a little research – starting with the basics: shopping trips. As indicated in the Nielsen chart below, online trips increased the most for the average shopper (8%). While much less dramatic, there are three other channels that have seen trips go up – dollar stores, mass merchandise, and value grocery.
Shopper Insights
Interestingly, dollar stores account for five times more trips for the average shopper than online (30 vs 6), and this same channel is the third most frequented channel behind convenience stores and mass merchandise.
Moreover, dollar stores are becoming increasingly available and accessible to US consumers. Nielsen TDLinx shows dollar stores as the top channel expander. Today, there are over 30,000 dollar stores in the US; this compares to 5,000 Walmart locations.
Adding to these statistics, the themes discussed in the article on Retail Intimacy published in Shopper Marketing in collaboration with Catapult show that there is an increasing interest in value shoppers.
shopper insights examples
The article encapsulates what today’s value shopper is looking for – we would expect bargains and even convenience, but the article also indicates that value shoppers are looking for an experience to compete with online shopping. The article also highlights things that the dollar store channel is doing differently, allowing for avenues for collaboration:
- The channel always focused on value, but dollar stores are now putting greater investments toward the in-store experience and more into marketing
- Messaging is going beyond price and placing more importance on communicating that “resourcefulness is cool”
- Deeper shopper engagements are being made outside of stores as well in bold new ways
Now, it’s more important than ever to understand value shoppers – in terms of their purchasing habits, but also the “whys” behind the behavior. C+R has a suite of solutions called Illuminator® that brings together our vast quantitative and qualitative attitudinal research tool box with behavioral panel data to shed light on the most actionable insights to address your business issues. It is a great way to dive deep into the value shopper and the dollar channel. To learn more about C+R’s Illuminator®, click here to download our overview sheet.
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