THE PHILIPPINES, AUGUST 10, 2011 – Philippine consumers take the most pleasure from grocery shopping, compared to their counterparts in the other Southeast Asian countries – 80 percent of Filipinos claimed to enjoy grocery shopping, according to Nielsen’s latest Philippine Shopper Trends Report 2011. Only one in ten consumers surveyed claimed to “quite dislike“ grocery shopping. Consumers in Thailand are a distant second, with 66 percent admitting they really enjoy/like grocery shopping.
“This finding is unique to consumers in the country. With 85 percent of the Philippines population falling into the lower income bracket, grocery shopping continues to be a way for some consumers to entertain themselves and spend time with their families at the same time. Most consumers take this must-do activity in their stride and even derive enjoyment from this activity which may be seen by many consumers in other countries as a chore,” said Marge Martinez, Nielsen’s Associate Director – Retailer Services in the Philippines.
Males versus females
Females continue to be the dominant main shopper in Filipino households (67%), although there is a slight downward trend over the last few years. Correspondingly, there is an emergence of more male main shoppers when it comes to grocery shopping. Nielsen’s analysis revealed that the percentage of male main shoppers tripled from 2006 to 33 percent at the end of 2010. This relatively high percentage also placed Filipino males as the second most likely to be the main grocery shopper for their households, in the Southeast Asia region, trailing after Malaysia (36%).
“The growth of the Business Process Outsourcing industry in the past three years in the Philippines has driven women to take more of a proactive role in seeking employment and landing a job. We therefore see more men and women sharing household responsibilities from bringing food to the table to taking care of the children to doing errands for the household needs,” said Martinez.
Where do consumers spend their grocery money as they seek more value?
Despite the global economic downturn, the Philippines retail trade continues to grow as consumers’ monthly spending on food, grocery and personal care increased by 19 percent in 2010 compared to 2009. Most consumers are still spending their money mostly at supermarkets with one-third of consumers claimed to spend their money most at this channel in 2010.
Another 28 percent consumers spent their money most in sari-sari stores and 25 percent of shoppers also claimed to spend their money most at wet markets.
“Consumers are trying to find ways to be smarter about how they spend, by changing their place of shopping to channels such as sari-sari stores and wet markets that may offer lower prices. As consumers continue to seek more value to stretch their pesos, supermarkets and other modern trade channels will increasingly need to become even more creative in their offering to cater to and attract the value-conscious consumers,” said Martinez.
Filipino consumers are also becoming more price sensitive and are increasingly looking for promotions to cope up with the rising prices of goods. Nielsen’s study showed that 15 percent of consumers will switch to a different store to get a better promotional offer (a 3-point increase from 2009), and only 70 percent said they will shop at the same store they usually patronize, compared to 82% in 2008.
“No” to top-up trips, “Yes” to grab-and-go trips
Filipino shoppers are the least likely to do “top-up” shopping, compared to shoppers in other Southeast Asian countries. On average, they make one “top-up” shopping trip a month. In contrast, shoppers in Singapore and Indonesia registered eight and seven trips, respectively.
When it comes to main shopping trips, Filipino shoppers on average will make about two trips a month. Thirty percent of consumers in the Philippines do their main shopping once a week, another one-third does it once every fortnight and 25 percent does it once a month.
Despite the finding that they enjoy grocery shopping, Filipinos grocery shoppers are most likely (among shoppers in Southeast Asia) to ‘grab-and-go’ . Thirty-five percent of Filipinos said they know what they want/aim to get out of the store quick and 51 percent said they will just visit parts of stores that have what they want. In contrast, the most “leisurely” shoppers in the region are from Singapore: only 9 percent said they know what they want/aim to get out of the store quick and 16 percent said they will just visit parts of stores that have what they want.
“Shoppers who ‘grab-and-go’ are either pressed for time, or are from the lower income classes, trying to manage their budgets by resisting the temptation to buy more. Both types of shoppers will be looking to get in and out of the store as quick as they can. With the growing demand for more convenience and value, there are many opportunities for retailers to differentiate themselves by providing for an even more enjoyable shopping experience,” said Martinez.
