According to the latest IMI research into purchasing behaviours, too many decisions are made by national sampling, particularly as it pertains to beverages.
According to IMI survey data of 28,000 beer purchasers, 75% of them buy more than once per year, with only 25% making daily or weekly buys. However, that latter group represents 81% of volume share, a target brands need to hone in on.
The same holds true for other categories. An IMI survey of 19,500 energy drink purchasers found that the 24% who are daily/weekly buyers represent 80% of volume share. In a survey of 43,000 soft drink buyers, 30% buy daily or weekly, representing 85% of volume share. For coffee, the 33% of daily/weekly buyers drive 90% of volume share.
According to Don Mayo, global managing partner at IMI, frequent purchasers are key in many big beverage categories. Also, Mayo notes, ratios across 275 categories are largely consistent.
Using category averages is not helpful, and Mayo stresses that brands need to “spend the money to do a bit more.”
One example he cites as a way to do that is by something like tapping into fashion as a key adjacency to promote energy drink usage. According to IMI figures, 36% of Canadians follow fashion trends. However, 62% of daily/weekly energy drink buyers follow fashion trends, far outpacing the 39% of respondents who follow fashion and “plan to start” drinking energy drinks.
Category is key, and high frequency category buying even more so, Mayo stresses. For Canada, brand trust is a purchase driver for 69% of consumers irrespective of category. For daily/weekly energy drink purchasers, however, that number is 81%. Having Canadian averages, therefore, does not paint the most vivid picture of consumer behaviour.
Brands that “make people feel good” drive 58% of Canadians’ purchase behaviour, however for daily/weekly energy drink buyers, that figure spikes to 82%. These correlations are similar when looking at brand attributes like local community support, charitable endeavors and associated sponsorships.
