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The majority of Britons say Pride-focused brand activity is for PR purposes
Consumers have a negative view of brands’ sincerity in their efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community during Pride month.
YouGov data shows that 75% of the 6,000 people surveyed believe that Pride month’s brand activities are for PR purposes only, rather than a sincere desire to show support for the LGBTQ+ community. this number increases to 79% when asking LG+ consumers.
Those who believe that brands are truly committed to supporting the gay community make up less than 1/10 of the sample (7%) and although this number is up slightly for those in the LGBT+ community (12%) , but for brands it’s disappointingly low to invest in the Pride marketing campaign.
There is some generational difference as younger consumers (18 to 24) are almost three times more likely to believe that brands are being honest in their Pride communications than younger consumers. people aged 65 and over (11% vs 4%), however, two-thirds of 18 – even 24-year-olds are equally skeptical of the intentions of brands and believe it to be PR.
Data shows that most UK consumers believe brands are engaged in ‘raining the rainbow’, where positive messages about the LGBTQ+ community are delivered with the expectation of little action. support them beyond kind words.
Source: YouGov
Grocery inflation hits year-to-date low
Grocery inflation fell to its lowest level so far this year, falling to 16.5% in the four weeks to June 11, 2023.
While this is the lowest inflation rate in 2023 to date, it is the sixth highest monthly inflation rate on record since 2008.
The proportion of households who said they were ‘extremely’ or ‘very worried’ about rising food and drink prices rose to 70 per cent. This is up from more than two-thirds year-on-year in January this year.
Kantar figures also show discount stores are once again the fastest growing among major UK supermarkets. Aldi grew 24.6% in the four weeks to June 11 to hit a new record market share of 10.2%. Lidl grew almost rapidly with 23.2%, accounting for 7.7% of the market.
Morrisons’ value range, Morrisons Savers, is growing the fastest in the UK, with sales nearly doubling from last year. Morrisons grew a modest 0.8% over the period. This is the 4th consecutive growth period of supermarkets after a period of decline.
Source: Kantar
Customers are increasingly looking for the lowest price
Consumers are doing it on their own to cushion the impact of inflation with more than 60% of customers now actively looking for the lowest prices when shopping.
A survey of 3,000 adults from IPA TouchPoints across the UK found that 60.9% of shoppers are now looking for the lowest prices and best deals when shopping (up 11% in 2020) and 41, 6% look for coupons (up 31% since 2020) to reduce their store costs.
Data shows that financial hardships also make consumers less loyal to their preferred brands, with half of consumers (52.9 percent) saying they would be willing to switch brands. to use coupons (up 13%).
Meanwhile, 42.7% use a range of supermarkets and stores for their weekly groceries to get the best prices, up 14% from 37.5% in 2020.
Supermarkets continue to attract the largest weekly reach of all shopping at 63.6% (although the share itself has fallen by 7% since 2020). But the number of high street shoppers has decreased by 17% (from 40.5% to 33.6%) since 2020; mall reach fell 8% (from 21.0% to 19.3%) and suburban retail fell 3% (from 14.7% to 14.2%). Meanwhile, online shopping has increased slightly since 2020, up 3% from 49.4% to 50.7%.
TouchPoints also shows consumers are staying at home an hour longer than they did before the 2020 lockdown – with the average number of hours spent by consumers indoors now at 18 hours and 43 minutes per day, up from 17. 37 minutes per day that consumers stay home first.
Source: IPA Touchpoint
Consumer confidence starts to return with rising interest rates
Consumer confidence is growing despite inflation hard to control and the Bank of England raised interest rates to a 15-year high of 5% last week.
An inflation rate of 8.7% in May – the same as in April – halts a downward trend from a peak of 11.1% last year, with the Office for National Statistics suggesting higher prices for with “air travel, entertainment and cultural goods and services” is to keep it high.
But despite this, consumers are becoming a little more positive in their outlook, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Barometer from GfK.
The overall index score improved by three points in June, bringing it to -24, although still negative, this is a marked improvement from the -41 recorded in June 2022.
The biggest improvement was seen in people’s view of their personal financial situation over the next year, up 7 points to -1. This marks the third consecutive month of improvement and means it is only shy of returning to a positive position, which has not been seen since December 2021. This is also a 27-point increase from last June.
Consumers’ perception of their financial situation over the past 2 months has also improved, up 5 points to -15.
Looking at the broader economy, people’s outlook for it next year rose 5 points, to -25. Again, this is a significant increase from 2022 when the number was at -57. Everyone’s view on the economy over the past 12 months has remained flat -54.
Source: GfK
Social media usage in Europe fell four minutes in Q1 2023 compared with the same period last year.
Average time spent on social media platforms now stands at 2 hours 1 minute per day for European users with new research from GWI showing all regions (except North America) have decreased as usage began to level off after the pandemic.
In the UK, time spent on social media dropped to 1 hour 46 minutes from 1 hour 52 minutes recorded in 2018.
There is good news for individual apps, however, as TikTok continues to grow in popularity with it now being the favorite of 9% of social media users (up 100% from the same time in 2021). WhatsApp and Instagram continue to be the world’s top app favorite platforms with both accounting for 21% and Facebook in third place with 20% of users’ favorite platforms (despite a sharp 14% drop compared to the previous year). same time in 2021).
The 970,000 consumer report also found that keeping in touch with friends and family was the most common reason for using social media (54%), with many consumers also using social media. to update news headlines (27%). In fact, the number of Western TikTok users using the platform for news updates has increased by 41% in two years.
Consumers are also relying on social media platforms to discover what’s trending/talking about (22%), with a growing number of consumers turning to TikTok for product and brand information increased by 52%.
Source: GWI
