Shoppers are shunning “premium shops” as the place to buy premium brands, and instead are happy to buy them at the cheapest possible price, research has revealed.
In the latest survey of 1,000 consumers, ShopperCentric said just over three quarters cited ‘product quality’ as the key defining feature of a premium brand.
A measly 16 percent said that they felt that upmarket stores were the place to go to buy these brands, with half of those questioned saying that it was the pricing that attracted them into stores.
Snobbery around premium brands was also shunned, with six in ten shoppers claiming that they hated the status these products held, and just 28 percent stated that they wanted to feel ’special’ when they bought these.
In fact, it seems lower prices and promotions are the way to a consumer’s pocket, with 74 percent of shoppers claiming that they loved finding a premium brand with a price discount and 61 percent said they only bought premium brands when they were on offer.
Manufacturers could face a lose/lose situation. 59 percent of shoppers admitted that if they saw a premium brand on reduced price, it would make them question whether the full price was too high.
Despite that, 37 percent of shoppers agreed that the types of brands who don’t discount, don’t care about their shoppers.
Danielle Pinnington, Managing Director of ShopperCentric said that the findings showed that that price alone clearly did not “denote superior quality for shoppers any more”.
Instead, “great (and proven) quality appeared to lie at the heart of an unequivocal premium brand definition.”
She pointed out there was a role for expressing this through price, packaging, image or even channel and in store.
“For many shoppers it appears, it isn’t about where you sell a premium brand, but how you sell it,” she added.
