Shoppers are ready to try new things
The pandemic was a time of stocking up on essentials and keeping products on shelves, but now that supply chains have recovered, consumers are ready to explore new products.
According to 84.51°’s October Consumer Digest, innovation is revving back up in the CPG space.
The Cincinnati-based data provider provides real-time insights around consumers’ interest in new products across different categories, their motivation to try them and perceptions of their expandable consumption habits.
Shoppers seeking innovation, but still price conscious
Shelf-stable grocery, fresh bakery and frozen food lead as categories where shoppers would most like to see new products available. Shoppers are looking for options that come with functional benefits, clean ingredients and higher protein options.
Given financial pressures, shoppers remain mindful of the price they are paying even when making decisions on trying new products (77%), followed by concern about flavour (71%) and instore availability (62%).
New product discovery
The most frequent ways shoppers report discovering new items to try are instore display (47%), product advertisements (45%) and product coupons (42%).
They’re most likely to try new products if there is a price reduction or comes with a discount coupon.
Perceptions of expandable consumption
Expandable consumption treats - like snacks, candy and drinks - are ripe for consumer experimentation. Purchase decisions are often made at the time of purchase, even in addition to planned purchase.
Consumers cite the ability to ‘quickly and easily use’ a product as their primary reason for buying more snacks/candy (48%) and drinks (40%), followed by paper products (38%).