What’s Important To Shoppers’ Decisions When Purchasing Consumer Electronics, Apparel, Athletic Footwear, and Toys

Port Washington, NY (PRWEB) July 06, 2011

The following shopper priority lists are from The Brand Landscape Report 2011 and they show the ten most important factors in shoppers’ decisions when purchasing consumer electronics, apparel, athletic footwear, and toy brands.

“The Retail & Brand Landscape Series allows you to see the retail world from the consumer’s perspective – in total or for particular consumer profiles,” said Dee Warmath, senior vice president, retail insights & global product development, The NPD Group, Inc., “In this analysis we see that while men and women share many of the same priorities when it comes to selecting brands, they differ in important ways and that represents opportunities for manufacturers who recognize and then leverage these unique requirements.”

See Chart: What’s Important In Shopper Decisions When Making A Consumer Electronics Purchase (Independent of Any Particular Brand)

When shoppers of both genders decide to purchase a consumer electronics product the most important thing to them is that the product be the same brand as something they already own. After the number one reason, the genders diverge in what is important to them. Men cite growing popularity as their number two reason to make a purchase whereas women say that the product they are considering should work well with what they already own. Women also

say it is important that the product has a ‘fashionable look’ something that is not on the men’s list. Men do say ‘product bundles or packages’ are important to them and that does not make women’s top ten list of things they look for when making a consumer electronics purchase. Interestingly, good value is a message that would resonate more with men in this category than women, where that requirement did not make the women’s top ten list.

“As you can see, there are universal requirements that cross customer segment boundaries as well as requirements that are unique to a particular segment. Being able to prioritize your messages for your consumer enhances the impact of your advertising as well as your point of

purchase efforts,” observed Warmath.

See Chart: What’s Important In Shopper Decisions When Making An Apparel Purchase

(Independent of Any Particular Brand)

In the top ten list for apparel purchase decisions both men and women say that ‘it is a brand I’ve had success with’ is the number one reason for making an apparel purchase. Numbers two through five differ slightly by gender but ‘comfort’ is in the number six spot for both.

“For apparel we see that the brand relationship is key for both men and women,” said Warmath, “However when making an apparel purchase women shift from ‘trust’ to it’s a ‘brand friends wear’ and for the first and only time men say it’s ‘a brand I trust’ that helps to drive their purchase.”

See Chart: What’s Important In Shopper Decisions When Making An Athletic Footwear Purchase (Independent of Any Particular Brand)

When making an athletic footwear purchase, men and women both say ‘is your style’ is the number one reason for buying. ‘Fit,’ ‘solutions,’ and ‘comfort’ round out the top five reasons that women make an athletic footwear purchase. Men say ‘fit,’ ‘solutions,’ and ‘fun’ are in their top five.

See Chart: What’s Important In Shopper Decisions When Making A Toy Purchase

(Independent of Any Particular Brand)

When purchasing toys, for women it’s first about the kids and for men it’s about their collections. Both men and women say their number ten reason for making a toy purchase is that it is ‘a good gift idea.’ Women are more likely to look for value, while men want the latest technology. Those are the two unique requirements on each of their lists.

“Trend and technology are drivers for men, as I would expect,” said Warmath, “The interesting part is that it carries over into toy purchasing as well.”

“We do see universal trends throughout this analysis,” said Warmath, “’Brand you trust’ appears on every female list except apparel where it is replaced by ‘brands your friends wear.’ ‘Has a fashionable look’ is important to women in every category except toys, while it is important to men only in an athletic footwear purchase. ‘Good value’ for the money tends to be a cross-category driver for females. For men that requirement is only important when making an apparel purchase, on all the other category lists for men ‘has a lot of sales or special deals’ is the one requirement that shows up on all four lists,” noted Warmath.

“Over the past several years, we have watched consumers reevaluate their purchasing decisions, moving much more toward an ‘investment mentality,’” said Warmath, “The job for retailers and manufacturers now is convincing the consumer that your products are worth them spending money on. Convincing them now will be twice as hard as it’s been in the past. Finding ways to address shoppers most important requirements will clearly grant them permission to purchase. And that is critical to your businesses’ future performance.”

*Methodology: Information in The Retail & Brand Landscape Series is based on a nationally representative survey of more than 70,000 consumers from The NPD Group’s online consumer panel. Consumers reviewed approximately 60 retailers and 75 brands per industry sector. This report series is

available for these sectors: Apparel, Athletic Footwear, Auto, Cameras, Computers & Computer Accessories (Quarterly), Footwear, Home, Jeans, Office Supplies, Software, Tech, Toys, and TVs.

About The NPD Group, Inc.

The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us, visit http://www.npd.com/, or follow us Twitter at http://twitter.com/npdgroup.

CONTACT:

Beth Boyle

The NPD Group, Inc.

516-625-4603

beth.boyle(at)npd.com

###

Beth Boyle
The NPD Group, Inc.
516-625-4603
Email Information