Whether or not the economy is improving is of much debate, even so, over the last 12 months shoppers have grown more price sensitive and they are on the hunt to find bargains with shopper price comparison research up 35% over the last year, a new study has found.
Some 70% of shoppers surveyed have grown more sensitive to price in the past 12 months, with price rising steadily as the primary driver of consumers’ purchasing decisions, from 60% in 2010 to 66% this year, according to this third annual study from Parago.
As an indicator of why price sensitivity and the quest for price comparison research are up, 83% of shoppers believe their purchasing power has decreased or remained constant over the last year. The vast majority of those surveyed, 95%, now shop by price over brand, look for sales, rebates or other promotions at least some of the time before they even head for the store. In contrast, last year only 59% of consumers said they sometimes or always researched prices prior to shopping.
The study also found:
* 95% of consumers are interested in products that come with rebates and 80% of consumers actively seek out rebates.
* Mobile shopping applications are not yet widely used. 73% of consumers never utilize mobile applications for price comparisons or to search for rebates.
* Women have become more sensitive to price over the past 12 months than men.
“Businesses cannot avoid price comparison, but they can create promotional strategies that help identify targeted customers and establish strong and recurring touch points,” Juli Spottiswood, Parago chief executive officer, said in a release.
Methodology: The 2012 shopper insights research was conducted independently and surveyed more than 1,000 consumers.
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