| Kippreport.com

Changing habits

January 10, 2010 4:38 by Aarti Nagraj

Around 34 percent of consumers in the UAE have tried to change where they do their grocery shopping, according to a report released by research firm Datamonitor. And more than 50 percent of consumers said they have given up some of their favorite grocery brands thanks to the global financial crisis.

The study found that, although consumers are very keen on quality, they now look at non-branded options more seriously; 19 percent of UAE consumers are willing to buy private label or in-store products all the time in order to save money. And many who did were just as satisfied; 59 percent said that private label cleaning products were identical, or superior to, branded equivalents.

“It is likely that consumers will maintain newly established purchasing patterns as economic conditions improve if they are satisfied with the quality of private label goods,” the report says.

But the trend varies a lot depending on the product categories and the types of brands, Datamonitor analyst Richard Adams tells Kipp. “Honestly, I think strong brands will rebound [in the long term],” he says.

“I think once we return to prosperity, this trend will play itself out gradually. But in the short and medium term, I think it is an established trend. Consumers are looking for the best deal and they are willing to switch between brands, changing behavior in the FMCG sector.”

But in the face of this behavior change brands should not necessarily look to re-invent themselves, he says.

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Tags: brands, consumer, loyalty, shopping, trends, UAE