How do I reach consumers even in difficult times?

More and more FMCG and retail advertisers are looking for answers to questions such as: How do I reach consumers even in difficult times? How do I get them to buy my products in spite of a slump in consumption and price increases? The most effective time to reach them is during the purchase planning phase. Consumers are currently planning their purchases intensively in advance. And this is the moment where purchasing decisions are made. Find out more in the following article.

In recent years, our everyday life has been marked by disturbances: While the focus in 2020 was on the Corona pandemic, current issues on our agenda include the Ukraine war, the energy crisis, inflation, and price increases. Life for consumers has become significantly more expensive - throughout Europe.

Countries such as Lithuania, Hungary and Bulgaria, for example, have to contend with food price increases of over 25 percent. Germany and Poland are leveling off at 14 and 15 percent respectively.

With the rapid and high increase in food prices, consumers are becoming increasingly price-sensitive. A survey, which was accomplished together with the market research institute Omniquest, says that nowadays, 65% of Germans pay much more attention to the price of products they buy. And this also leads to more focus being placed on purchase planning: 82% of Germans plan their purchases more carefully as a result. 

A change in purchasing behavior towards more price-sensitive consumption is also shown by the survey results on the subject of offers: Compared to 2021, the relevance of offers has increased by 7%. Even more impressive is the development in response to the question: “Do you make your choice of product and brand dependent on current offers?” An increase of 14% can be seen here. 

Even in difficult times, advertisers from FMCG and retail want to reach their customers effectively. To do so, it makes particular sense to respond to the new needs of consumers. The question is, how?

This is exactly where advertising in the context of purchase planning comes into play. Since consumers pay much more attention to prices and offers, they also invest more time and care in planning their purchases.

A Bring! study from spring 2022 shows that 38% more shopping lists have been created since 2020. At the same time, 30% of the participants surveyed plan their purchases in a more targeted and detailed manner and also invest 22% more time in planning. 

And why is shopping planning so relevant? On the one hand, the current survey results show that a great deal of time is devoted to it. On the other hand, it is precisely during the planning phase that people make their purchase decisions.

The shopping list app Bring! offers relevant advertising formats at exactly this time, which are extremely relevant for both FMCG advertisers and retailers. 

For example, the most popular ad format in the Bring! app is the Sponsored Product. It is special because products from brands are integrated natively into the app and appear in the form of a hand-drawn tile with the Bring! look and feel. So when a consumer plans their shopping and searches for certain keywords, the matching tile from the brand appears. This can then be added directly to the shopping list. Further information on this can be found on the website. 

For retailers, communicating offers to consumers is enormously relevant. Here, too, Bring! provides an innovative form of advertising. The keyword here is: personalized offer communication. 

Bring! suggests suitable retail offers to users based on their planned purchases, which can then be added directly to their shopping lists. For example, if a user adds bananas to their shopping list and the retailer has bananas on sale, the user knows that they can buy the item there at a lower price. Here, too, offers can be added directly to the shopping list with a single click. More information here.