Consumption trend according to Profital study: search online, buy offline
Following the Corona loosening, consumers are once again making more stationary purchases and are increasingly informing themselves in advance about discounts and promotions. The majority of shoppers are doing their research online and buying offline, as the new consumer study conducted by the Profital shopping guide app shows. This applies not only to food, but also to furniture and electronics.
What does purchasing behavior look like after the relaxation of Corona measures in Switzerland? Profital, the app for digital brochures and mobile retail marketing, conducted a study with almost 2,000 people. There is a slight trend back toward stationary retail, with consumers primarily obtaining information online before making a purchase.
Cross-channel purchasing takes place
Shopping planning remains important and is even increasing slightly: A full 82 percent of respondents said they find out about promotions and discounts in advance. Last year, the figure was 72 percent (survey February 2021) and in 2020 only 49 percent (survey April 2020). The ROPO effect (Research Online, Purchase Offline) can be observed here. The majority of respondents first research online and then make their purchase in a brick-and-mortar store.
"The entire shopping journey is becoming more and more cross-media, and consumers usually start their product research online," says Profital CEO Raphael Thommen, "which shows how important digital offer communication is. For example, 56 percent of respondents find out about groceries online, and then buy them offline later. However, this trend is not only evident when buying groceries, but also when purchasing furniture and home furnishings (54 percent) and electronics (48 percent).
After Covid: slight trend back to stationary retailing
Around half of all respondents (52 percent) are continuing with their shopping habits in 2020 and 2021 compared with the Corona years. However, one-third of participants said they would again shop more frequently in stores in 2022. In this context, men in particular (35 percent) have shifted their shopping behavior more to stationary retail again, compared with 27 percent of women. 18 percent of respondents currently store more frequently in online stores.
Corona, however, is hardly a concern for the respondents when shopping: Only 9 percent said they were afraid of infection, for example. Consumers are much more concerned about delivery delays (20 percent) and product origin (37 percent). However, it is the price that is of most concern: A full 69% of all respondents said they were worried about rising prices when shopping.
Sustainability and delivery time also important
Despite rising prices, quality comes first when buying a product: The most important purchase criterion for consumers is quality, with an average rating of "fairly important" to "very important. Price follows in second place. Issues such as sustainability, availability and delivery time are also considered important. Regionality, packaging and product presentation are perceived as less important, and the brand of the product is in last place.
The Profital study examines purchasing behavior in March 2022, after the Covid measures have been relaxed. 1,935 users of the Profital app were surveyed. The online survey took place between March 19 and 22, 2022. Profital is a provider of digital brochures and mobile retail marketing. The app connects over 450,000 shopping-savvy consumers with offers from over 100 retailers and brands at the time of purchase. Profital was founded in 2017 as a startup of Swiss Post. At the beginning of 2022, it merged with Europe's largest shopping list app Bring! The two apps have been accompanying each other as Bring! Labs AG, the two apps have since accompanied millions of users through the entire shopping process - from inspiration to joint planning to purchase.
The entire study is available here.
