Discounting not the answer to future growth?
discount stores throughout Europe, with recessions in many of the
Continent's leading economies prompting consumers to tighten their
belts and shop around for bargains.
But a recent survey by the Germany-based GfK market research group shows that the discount phenomenon may be on the wane, at least outside Germany. Of the five other countries) investigated by GfK (France, the UK, Italy, Poland and Spain), only Italian consumers were found to be more price-driven than before.
But while this shows that the rush into the discount sector may not be the Eldorado some retailers had hoped, GfK suggests that bargain-hunting consumers are a clearly definable target group, which, if correctly addressed, has huge economic potential.
Price is far more important to Germans and Poles than it is to their European neighbours, according to the GfK survey. As early as the economic boom times of the mid-nineties, more than 50 per cent of Germans were already keeping an eye on the price of consumer goods, the company said, a figure which increased to 56 per cent by the time the recession started to bite in the early 2000s.
However, while Polish consumers remain even more price sensitive than their German neighbours at 63 per cent, there has been a marked drop in the number of bargain hunters there over the last three years - some 4 per cent since 2001.
Consumers in the four other European countries surveyed proved to be far less price sensitive than in Germany and Poland. However, Italy is a notable exception, at least with respect to the change in attitude to price orientation: it is the only country where the proportion of price-sensitive consumers rose, by 6 per cent to 44 per cent in the period from 2001 to 2003.
But compared with its other European neighbours, the proportion of price-sensitive Italian consumers still remains low.
For the British, the French and the Spaniards, it would seem that the importance of the price factor is continuing to fall - an important warning for retailers such as Carrefour which are planning to invest heavily in this sector over the next few years in a bid to bolster flagging performances from larger, more traditional store formats.
But Gfk suggests that while economic necessity is one key driver of growth in the discount market, it is not the only one. Even when times are hard and spending is low, consumer desire for treats remains high, suggesting that there is a market for discounting even at the premium end of the market where economic necessity is less of a concern.
The company splits these bargain hunters into three distinct groups. The first two groups are the dreamers and adventurers, and are described as mostly younger, fashion-conscious singles willing to take a risk but imbued with a strongly materialistic value system. They are most prevalent in Italy, where they account for 28 per cent of consumers, in Poland, where the figure is 23 per cent and the UK, where they make up 22 per cent. In Germany, the proportion is just around 18 per cent.
The third group is what GfK called the globally aware. This group, predominantly females in their middle years, enjoys a superior lifestyle and is very open to high quality innovations. This group accounts for 12 per cent of shoppers in Germany, the UK and Spain, but is much lower elsewhere: in Italy, for example, it accounts for 10 per cent, while in Poland it is just 4 per cent.
For these precisely defined target groups, consumption means more than simply comparing prices, according to GfK. As a result, a constant downward spiral of prices would be counter-productive.
"A competitive price may well provide a purchasing criterion on one occasion, but on a permanent basis, it is no substitute for the pursuit of a distinctive marketing strategy, where factors such as design, quality and innovation are all important considerations in their own right," GfK said.
