Marketers of consumer packaged goods, like food products, should consider five different shopper segments - ranging from “unfazed normals” and “struggling worriers” to “shook-up savers” - as they craft their value propositions

David Gryga, US svp/market strategy and understanding for research at Ipsos, discussed this subject at its virtual 2020 Food Industry Summit.

And he identified five broad US consumer groups that Ipsos has discovered are emerging in the COVID-19 pandemic, with their perspectives based on a mix of health and financial concerns.

Freedom-focused consumers make up 10% of the overall audience. “They're more defined by the attitude of, ‘I want things back to normal,’” Gryga said. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: How to create a value proposition for food brands during a pandemic and recession.)

“These are people who have generally a low level of concern; they want life to go on as it was pre-COVID and have a range of financial security.”

Easy accommodators, or 25% of the consumer base, are “a little bit less concerned about COVID, but they do have financial concerns,” he continued.

“When you put those two [factors] together, they're able to adjust, because they're not as concerned about the health issues, but they're starting to become a little more worried” about the economic situation.

“Unfazed normals, some 17% of shoppers, are “concerned about COVID to a mild degree or average degree, but they have very strong financial security,” Gryga said.

“So they're not changing their behavior as much, and they will conform to society's standards about wearing a mask where they have to. But, for them, the idea is, ‘We're trying to keep things as normal as possible.’”

“Struggling worriers”, on 21%, “are very impacted by COVID concerns and health concerns, and they don't have financial savings to rely on,” the Ipsos researcher added.

“So, this is a group that is most impacted, especially by product availability by prices being higher by changing their habits in very significant ways” - for instance, by switching to cheaper products or buying individual-use purchases.

Finally, shook-up savers, on 19%, have the “highest level of COVID concern and health-related concerns,” Gryga said, “but they also have financial security so they can get through and stock up on items.”

Sourced from WARC