“Everyone leads busy lives. Once you factor in the demands of work, family, friends and things like sports or hobbies, sometimes it can feel like you don’t have anywhere near enough time in the day to do everything. Shopping habits mirror this societal trend, with more and more shopping trips becoming occasion and mission based. What you need now when you go to the supermarket is what matters more than ever, so stores need to be set up to help shoppers shop effectively.
Breakfast – The Emerging Occasion
When you look at the cold hard stats, it becomes really clear just how big this phenomenon of mission-based shopping has become. In our Shopper Intelligence data, only one third of all shopping trips were made for the primary purpose of stocking up. That leave the other two thirds where shoppers have come in for a specific reason – e.g. buying a snack, getting party supplies, buying for a specific meal. Breakfast in particular has significantly risen in prominence, with more people now making a specific trip to buy breakfast items than those who are making trips to buy something for lunch. Many stores are set up reasonably well to cater to the needs of shoppers buying lunch, with sandwiches, filled rolls, hot food and the like well represented and easy to access. But how many stores cater effectively to people looking for a breakfast alternative? It is a massive opportunity for stores to pull together an offer to help shoppers at the beginning of the day who are looking for something quick and easy on their way to work, the gym or wherever. The shoppers are willing to spend their breakfast money in other channels, why not spend it in Grocery if they can get a shopper-led solution?
It’s Not Just About “Traditional” Items
It’s telling to peer a little deeper into the categories that get bought for breakfast too, as this reflects changing tastes among Kiwis. Naturally enough, Breakfast Cereals tops the list with other staples like Milk, Eggs, Coffee, Tea, Jams and Bread coming to the fore (Liquid Breakfast also features prominently). But other categories with less of a traditional breakfast focus start appearing in numbers – Frozen Fruit, Canned Fruit, Dried Fruit/Nuts, Health Food, Muesli Bars, Chilled Soup all have strong relevance to the breakfast occasion in our data. What this also highlights is that a shopper-led solution in regard to breakfast needs to be flexible and tailored to what works in a particular location. For some stores traditional items may suffice for catering to shopper needs but in other stores the offer needs to prominently showcase more modern options. Local conditions will dictate what the correct approach is.
Regardless of whether the store focus is on traditional or modern options for the breakfast occasion, having a shopper led solution in the first place is more important than ever with the significant increase in people looking for an easy and quick option for the first meal of the day. Make it as easy as possible for a shopper to buy breakfast from your store rather than spending their money in a competing channel.
Shopper Intelligence interviews over 45,000 shoppers in New Zealand across the Supermarket, P&C and Traditional Liquor channels in order to drive strategic shopper-led commercial decisions at retailer, category, segment and brand levels.”
If you want to understand your shoppers better, contact Andrew Arnold at andrew.arnold@shopperintelligence.co.nz.
