The Why Behind the Buy

Shoppers are prepared, they buy more items on sale and go online to save money.

Those are just a few of the key trends identified by Acosta Sales & Marketing in its fall 2011 “The Why Behind the Buy” report, based on a nationwide survey that collects data on grocery shopper habits heading into the winter months.

Trends in the current survey include the following:

- Shoppers taking an extremely prepared and educated approach to the grocery trip, with 72% making a list for their routine shopping trip, 54% buying more items on sale and 33% going online or using apps to save money.
- Traditional store circulars remain among the most popular promotional items for shoppers, with 85% reporting that store circulars influence them and nearly 50% saying they clip coupons from the circulars.
- While traditional sales tactics continue to be more widely used than digital offerings at the grocery counter, digital is increasing in influence, with 33% of shoppers going online to save money via online coupons, retailer and brand websites, and e-mail subscriptions.
- Increasing gas prices are having a dual effect by driving higher food costs and leaving consumers with less money to spend on groceries. As a direct consequence, shoppers are buying less expensive brands or less food overall.

Acosta conducts this survey twice a year. The respondents are more than 1,000 everyday shoppers, randomly selected across all generational, economic and ethnic groups across the United States. The current survey was fielded in July 2011.

With 65 locations throughout the United States and Canada, Acosta represents a majority of the No. 1 and 2 brands in the CPG industry, providing a range of outsourced sales, marketing and retail merchandising services.