The Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry (FMCG) has evolved vastly over the years. Gone are the days where consumers partake in one large grocery shop each week or followed a detailed list of ingredients they need to buy.
It has become easier and simpler for the consumer to not only get to the grocery store, or the time of day they are able to shop, their habits surrounding how they buy is continuously evolving. So what is driving their habits for convenience?
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Lifestyle
To put it simply the modern day consumer is time poor. Where did their time go? Longer working hours are a major contributor, longer commutes; we are allocating time for health and wellness, we’re eating out, we are socialising more frequently all of these aspects are eating away at the day. How can a consumer who doesn’t have enough time in the day to sit and think for a couple of moments plan out what they are having for dinner, let alone what to take for lunch the next day?
Consumers need inspiration! The last thing we are wanting to be doing of an afternoon is plan out a meal that the whole family can eat. We are starting to see grocery store campaigns providing meal inspirations in store, online and through paid advertising. Whether it’s a catalogue recipe, a shelf advertisement or even where the products are placed on the shelf, retailers are recognising a problem and they are solving it.
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More Frequent Store Visits
We know that there isn’t enough time in the day and this has led to consumers becoming a little disorganised. Studies show around 43% of shoppers don’t know what they are having for dinner at 3pm let alone a week in advance. Hence, we are seeing consumers shopping 2-3 times a week rather than the old school one big shop per week.
More store visit means a more complex landscape for product marketers. This trend is showing consumers to be less brand loyal and more likely to switch products as well as the retailers they buy from. It comes down to price, product placement on shelf and product size driving sales. Consumers want to find the product easily, they want a bargain and they want to feed the whole family.
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High Expectations & Technology
Consumers are able to buy almost anything, anywhere and at any time, therefore the expectation for retailers to provide high quality products that facilitate a busy lifestyle is paramount. The market has become saturated with ready-made and ready prepped meals being delivered to their door, and supermarkets have had to jump on the opportunity to deliver food solutions at all hours of the day and not to mention delivery for free. Although online grocery shoppers make up a smaller percentage of the market it is the fastest growing segment in terms of the number of shoppers using the platform. Therefore, the importance of online marketing in FMCG is key in inspiring consumers and prompting their shopping habits right up until the moment the product is in their basket.