Forty-nine percent of adults prefer getting product discounts during each grocery store visit compared with 34 percent who like to accumulate points for a larger reward at stores offering a loyalty card program, according to a new study from Vertis.
“We have noticed a shift in reward programs and an increase in usage among younger demographics,” said Jim Litwin, vice president of market insights at Vertis, Baltimore. “This presents an opportunity for marketers to better understand different demographics and apply this knowledge to effectively target consumers.”
The company's Customer Focus 2006: Grocery study surveyed 3,000 adults by telephone and Web in August and September. It also examined the use of ad circulars and found that 84 percent of consumers use them to compare prices while 52 percent use them to decide where to shop for groceries. Other results:
· If a grocery store offered a loyalty card program, 51 percent of professional/white-collar adults would prefer a discount on specific products during each visit versus 46 percent of blue-collar adults surveyed; 42 percent of Hispanic consumers prefer to accumulate points for a larger reward or payoff compared with 34 percent of total adults.
· Forty percent of women ages 35-49 and 32 percent of men 35-49 said ad inserts had the most influence on their buying decisions.
· Of the grocery ad insert readers, 51 percent of men 35-49 said they regularly use coupons they get from the circulars compared with 45 percent of women in the same age group.
· Thirty-six percent of female grocery ad insert readers 50 and older said they occasionally use coupons from circulars compared with 30 percent of men in the same age group.
· Men and women 18-34 who are grocery ad insert readers rarely use coupons from circulars, at 27 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
Melissa Campanelli covers postal news, CRM and database marketing for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
