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). 

Mum Insights for 2013

Mums in 2013

As we’re in the last few weeks of 2012 we know many of you will already be thinking about marketing and research projects for 2013. We thought we’d round up what we’ve learnt about mums in 2012 and let you know what we think brands should be thinking about when it comes to mums in 2013. 

2013 – The Year of the Mum

With a royal baby due this summer you can guarantee pregnancy and mums will be front and centre in the media.  It’s an opportunity for brands to connect with pregnant mums to be and new mums, bearing in mind that the average mum might be interested in the royal babe but is likely to be having a somewhat different experience!

Mums are all the same, and completely different

Which brings us to point two to consider for 2013. We all know mums have common experiences (in that we all have children – nope we don’t even all give birth, some adopt) but that’s often where the similarities begin and end. You can take two mums who appear similar on the surface but when you scratch the surface and start to ask the right questions you soon realise how different they are – from their parenting philosophies, to how and where they shop to how they interact with technology.  We’d like less identification of mums as ‘single’ or ‘ABC1’ and the judgements that go with those labels and more identification of common touch points and differences which uncover insights that can change brands for the better.

The way to do this is by asking the right questions and really listening to the replies (and reading between the lines a fair bit).  Which brings us to our next insight nugget…

Don’t forget about dads…and grandparents…

There was a fair bit of backlash against this year’s Asda Christmas advert, depicting an overwrought mum who does it all.  And while we know mums often bear much of the organisational work for the festive season we felt the Asda advert failed because it was a negative depiction. We could relate to some parts of it but most mums we spoke to said it wasn’t how they felt about things overall.  We know there was a considerable amount of research used to back up the advert but we wonder if the researchers were really listening to what mums were saying (and identifying trends as we would) or asking questions that provoked a negative response.  

The ad reinforced the stereotypical roles for both mum and dad of the 1970s rather than 2012, portraying mum as being washed out, running around doing everything, even relegated to the pouffe at the dinner table. And yes today’s mum is still running around today but is a heck of a lot more empowered and having fun while dads take on more hands on role with cooking and the kids. 

What we know for sure is that dads (and kids and grandparents and aunties and cousins and friends) all influence a mum’s decision-making process and so we shouldn’t forget that when we develop products, services and communications targeted at mums.  So if 2013 is the year you really want to connect with mums then what’s the best platform to do it on? 

The rise of technology

2013 has been the year of technology for mums – the use of smartphones for researching products, reading reviews, connecting with friends and social networking continues to grow. 

Recently more brands have started to introduce apps to making shopping on the go easier for mums (and if you want an easy win with mums then start by creating things that make their life easier). 

Smartphones and apps work for mums because they fit into our busy life – we can order our shopping while sitting at our child’s swimming class or keep our child occupied with a phonics app while waiting for food in a restaurant.  But there is a but. We’ve seen some statistics touted around this year that make it seem as if all mums on are facebook and own smartphones (or are using them in a way a brand could make use of) and in our experience of thousands of mums this just isn’t the case.  Yes in 2013 you should be making use of technology to connect with mums but don’t forget where they were last year (and will continue to be), the school playground, the workplace, the gym, playing in the park or sat in a coffee shop with friends. 

Here’s to a successful 2013 for all our mums and every brand that wants to help them!

If you want to know more about how we identify insights and trends with mums then drop us a line.