Industry Intelligence

According to the third phase of Henkel’s “Shoppers’ Perspective” study, which compared shoppers’ behavioral trends in 2008 and 2009 using SymphonyIRI data, the consumer demographic dubbed “Shoptimizers” has grown, now accounting for 31 percent of revenue vs. 30 percent in 2008.

Shoptimizers plan ahead carefully, study retail circulars, make lists, clip and redeem coupons, and strongly favor everyday low price (EDLP) strategies. Since there are more of them out there now, retailers need to attract this group to boost their bottom lines, notes the study.

In 2009, Shoptimizers spent less money in the fresh/ancillary sections of the store and bought more from center store than in 2008. Henkel’s study found that they spent $66 less in the fresh section of the store.

On the lookout for the best deals, this group shopped at 11 different retailers on average in 2009 — translating to 13 percent more retailers than Mainstreeters, who find value while they’re shopping, and a whopping 34 percent more retailers than Carefrees, who buy what they like with no planning.

Income, age, and size of household all have nothing to do with any of the three shopper groups, according to the research, which found that Shoptimizers, Mainstreeters and Carefrees each comprise roughly the same mix of households, age groups and incomes.

On a margin basis, while Shoptimizers are equally as profitable as the other two groups, they still spend the most, making them the most profitable in absolute dollars, the study found. In 2009, for instance, Shoptimizers spent over $7,100 a year on average, $1,500 more than Carefrees and $850 more than Mainstreeters.

The retail channels that were most successful at attracting this desirable demographic in 2009 were grocery stores, supercenters, and club stores. By comparison, drug stores, which were best at luring this group in 2008, lost some of them the following year, reversing an upswing that started in 2006, while the mass and dollar store channels’ respective shares of Shoptimizers stayed the same.