The Big Mum Opinion sneak peek – the changing shape of shopping

After weeks of gathering information we’ve now closed The Big Mum Opinion. 3000 mums gave us their opinions on shopping, spending, social media use and how brands can best communicate with them. We also did in-depth research with hundreds of mums in their own communities to give us a balanced view of the world of mums in 2013.

We’re now analysing the data which confirms some of what we already know from talking to thousands of mums over the last three years. There were also a few surprises in there and we know this insight will be vital as brands try and find ways to connect effectively with mums.

We thought we’d offer you a peek into the kind of issues that mums discussed and some of the hard facts that came out of the study.

Do you think price promises and loyalty cards make mums shop in one place?

Despite the best efforts of the supermarkets mums are still shopping around.

 

• 78% of mums use more than one shop (including online shops) to buy their grocery shopping in a typical week.
• 28% of mums use three or more shops for their grocery shopping in a typical week
• 51% of mums do one big grocery shop and go to shops for other items (usually something specific like meat at a butchers or vegetables from one particular place).

Two main reasons emerged – 78% mums said they did this because of offers and 39% said it was because of better quality fresh food. And these two things aren’t mutually exclusive – many mums mentioned Aldi’s fruit and veg as being both of better quality and cheaper.

It doesn’t follow that mums who like offers and low priced products are willing to compromise on quality. They want both.

We have also seen confirmation of a pattern that we identified about two years ago. Mums are loyal – but not to one store or brand. They’ll own loyalty cards but often for several supermarkets. They’ll be loyal to a brand, but only buy when it’s on offer.

Here’s what one mum said:

“I go to Sainsbury’s for some of the brands I can’t get in Morrisons (and their own brands) and also to get the price promise voucher for next week. I shop in Morrisons for location, fresh produce quality and build up their weekly offer voucher scheme too. And then I go to Aldi for fresh fruit and veg when I am in the village. Sometimes use bargain stores for cleaning products and kids sweets.”

If you’d like to know more about what mums think and a copy of the full report (due out July) email nicola@mumpanel.co.uk (cost £495). 

Using tech to talk to mums

In our last blog I talked about how brands need to make sure they don’t forget where mums are everyday.  So we know out and about and social media play their parts but where does other technology sit in all of this?  There’s no doubt mums now use all sorts of technology as part of their everyday lives – nearly everyone has an email address and uses the internet. Many have smartphones, some use social media (but quick note brands, not always in the way you need them to!). What is emerging in this field is the growth of ebooks and apps – several brands have cottoned onto this and released shopping/information apps or other e-content in the last few months. We think that’s a pretty smart move. 

Mums don’t have much time, so if you can provide a way for me to get information or do jobs on the run then I’m going to grab it with both hands. Answer my questions and make my life easier? Where do I sign up!?

The question is how do you use technology appropriately so you engage mums, create loyalty and get them to buy?

A great place to start is by providing information.  As soon as you get pregnant you have questions – what should I eat, where will I give birth, how much has my baby grown? And once the baby arrives you have a million more questions.  Our research has shown that mums use other mums and their own family as a primary touchpoint for information. But we know this must be balanced with the fact that mums are deep consumers of information, gathering from multiple sources and in many different media – from a leaflet at the doctor’s surgery to being told about a new app by a mum friends on facebook. 

If you take an informational approach to engaging with mums you create deeper connections as they see you as a valuable part of their parenting life. And that’s where loyalty begins. 

Drop me a line if you’d like to know more about creating technology that mums want to engage with nicola@mumpanel.co.uk

Car seats – combining safety with sales

If you want to sell more effectively to mums (and dads) then you need to identify what it is they want. And that’s not as simple as having the right products on the shelf, especially when those products are going to be used for transporting our precious children around.

A few weeks ago we got into a discussion with some mums about car seats. We were talking about the growing interest in rear-facing car seats. What we noticed is that there is some expert information available but there is also lots of mum opinion and experience out there. We love mum opinion, their honest reviews and insight can create product revolutions, help mums in similar situations and cut through marketing hype. But sometimes it’s important that mum opinion sits alongside expert opinion so that parents get the information they need to keep their children safe.

 











Car seats is one area where this is absolutely vital. Asking other mums what car seat they have got is great, but not if it’s the wrong seat for your car or you choose something and then have it fitted incorrectly by a retailer.  

There’s information that we need to get out to both retailers and parents before they make choices about car seats.  If you are a car seat manufacturer or retailer then giving this information puts you ahead of the pack, it means you care about more than the sale and that concern creates brand loyalty.

It’s also important we start to dispel some of the myths around car seats and create a culture where parents are informed and aren’t scared when they come across information on parenting websites or in the papers.

So how could you engage parents and find ways to communicate information about car seats that can help them buy the right seat, stay safe and become loyal customers?

Julie from Child Seat Safety wants to get some basic information across to parents before they buy:

1. 8 out of 10 car seats aren’t fitted correctly. It sounds like a scary statistic but it’s easily preventable if retailers are trained in fitting and communicate this service clearly to parents.
2. Not every car seat fits every car. Retailers and manufacturers could consider focussing less on the features of the seat and more on asking parents what car they have/whether they move it between cars.
3. Keeping children and passengers safe takes more than fastening straps. Do you think parents know that unrestrained car seats in a crash can cause catastrophic damage? Do you let them know how to operate the seat (in a clear and concise way) once the child isn’t in it?
4. Growing children. Are you letting potential customers know when it is appropriate to change car seats (age and weight)? Take it one step further – are you letting them know why you shouldn’t move children to a bigger car seat or booster when they are too young?  Are you asking parents the right questions and identifying gaps in their knowledge?
5. Long term care. What happens when a child is sick all over the car seat? Do parents know that some cleaning products can damage straps and reduce their effectiveness in a crash? Is this vital information tucked away in a 50 page instruction booklet? Could you offer initial or ongoing training to parents?

Buying a car seat (or car seats over a period of time) is often a process for parents, one where they are bombarded with information and one way to check whether your products and service is hitting the mark is to carry out online research. Start with parents at the beginning of the process – where do they go for information? Who are they asking about car seats? Are they getting the right information at that stage to make informed decisions? The next step would be to observe parents as they walk through the sales process – whether that be instore or online. What affects their purchasing decisions? Are they more concerned about price or safety?

When we have walked mums through this process this is often where tiny nuggets of insight pop up (I liked the colour, I don’t know whether I’m buying the right thing, I don’t know if it will fit my car). As we see more mums purchasing online the scope for making the wrong choice widens. Without expert advice parents may purchase based on price and then find themselves stuck with a car seat that doesn’t fit in their car. This is where retailers have an opportunity to step in an offer a comprehensive and fitting service or make their return guarantees explicit. We often work with companies to marry up messaging on their website with a mums’ experience (does the product description match what I received, could I easily see what I need to do if the product needs returning).  

It’s only by walking parents through each stage of the information gathering/purchase/returns/customer service process that we can start to identify how we could make it better.

Finding and filling the gaps – mum insight

We’ve all had those moments in life when we’ve thought up outlandish inventions or wished for a product that didn’t exist. I found myself doing this more once I became a parent and scouring the internet for the solution to problems I didn’t know I had before my children arrived (do you need to carry a potty around once you start potty training, how do you carry an umbrella and push a pram, how do you sneak vegetables into your children’s diet?).

And if you are trying to sell to mums then how do you stay one step ahead of the competition? You find products that don’t exist that mums want. Spotting trends and understanding what products might appeal to mums is best done through a combination of research and insight techniques. We know from our insight work that new products and services can often develop from an offhand comment by a mum. We also know that developing products quickly through a streamlined research process is important, both to keep up with a fast changing market and to beat the competition to the store shelves.

Because we work with thousands on mums we’re constantly hearing about emerging trends and what they want – if you’d like to know more about how we can help you develop new products or services then drop us a line.