Why nobody wants cheap in a recession.
I read a great post over at practicalecommerce.com which looked at what leading money saving words that people use when searching google. It really indicates beautifully what consumers are looking for when trying to save a few pennies.
The report was obviously weighted towards America as the word coupon was the most searched for phrase over discount, sale and free shipping.
So In the UK we substituted those words with more UK centric words.
SALE v DISCOUNT v CHEAP v FREE DELIVERY v VOUCHER
There is one big trend here. More people are looking for sales and less are looking for cheap. Surprisingly thought this fits in with the normal marketing rules during a recession. A prime reason for purchasing better products in a recession is that they are less likely to go wrong, break or be of poor quality.
Reliability is a highly prized virtue at the moment and branded items on sale offer a percieved better value than cheap products.
Another indicator of this is the rise in popularity of big brand shops on the Internet. Consumers have to feel safe in the knowledge that the company they are buying from will last as long as the item they purchase.
FREE DELIVERY v NEXT DAY DELIVERY v SATURDAY DELIVERY
More people are looking for free delivery than next day delivery and its growing at a huge rate. In fact searches for free delivery at Christmas were a massive 80% higher than next day delivery. Looking at the same report for Free Delivery vs Low Price its the same situation.
So what do I do?
In the minds of consumers
- putting themselves out waiting for a delivery is OK as long as its cheaper
- cheap products are not OK
- consumers are not prepared to risk money with an unsafe retailer.
The numbers would indicate that a free delivery option is a winner, even if you offer an extended delivery option for free.
If you dont you may be missing valuable traffic.
