Nielsen points to four key target customer groups
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Marketers should be putting most of their emphasis on four key customer groups - women, the middle class, seniors, and online buyers - as they still have high purchasing power, global market research firm Nielsen suggested yesterday.
To attract customers who have become more sophisticated, the marketers should also offer affordable premium products.
Speaking at a Nielsen conference on shopping trends, Connie Cheng, executive director for shopper practice for Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa at Nielsen Singapore, said women were still the key decision makers for family purchases, but also played an important role as individual shoppers.
The conference aimed to share the latest insight and information from Nielsen specialists on shopping trends.
“It is not just about promotions, discounts and special privileges, woman shoppers are also seeking premium options that might be related to fresh food, healthy choices and package labels,” Cheng said.
Urbanisation has meanwhile resulted in a rising middle-class population. By 2020, the middle class is estimated to make up 54 per cent of the population in Asia, up from just 28 per cent in 2009.
Cheng suggested that the new middle class with better incomes would be able to afford more premium products. Marketers and product owners therefore should upgrade their brand images and offer more premium goods at affordable prices to lure this group.
“From our shopper research, premium products could be priced about 15-20 per cent above the regular products in the same category,” she said.
Yongyuth Ongwattanapat, director for retail measurement services at Nielsen Thailand, said that by 2020, the Thai middle class would rise to 57 per cent of the population from 43 per cent last year.
He noted that between 2007 and 2011, disposable income in Thai households grew by 9 per cent while average expenses went up by only 5 per cent. This meant Thai consumers still had enough money to spend.
Meanwhile, younger people are also willing to pay for non-necessities such as information-technology gadgets despite facing the risk of getting into debt.
He suggested that Thailand was also becoming an ageing society. The businesses that produce goods and services for consumers nearing old age should make it easy for them to shop at department stores. According to this trend, healthcare, health supplements and beauty businesses will gain advantage.
Another trend is online business. Nielsen’s specialists agreed that consumers would increasingly shop and pay via the Internet thanks mainly to the development of wireless broadband across the region and in Thailand.
Yongyuth said that by the first quarter of this year, smartphone users comprised 49 per cent of mobile-phone users in the Kingdom, a huge jump from 29 per cent last year. This trend will continue and open more doors both for brands to channel their products and to communicate directly with the right customers.
