Consumer Buying Behaviour - How Canadian Buyers Shop

One of the most challenging things about selling in the consumer packaged goods arena is determining the wants and needs of various demographics. Things like age, ethnicity and gender greatly influence consumer buying behaviour, and it can be difficult to hit the nail on the head when it comes to meeting each target market.

Check out this great article from Canadian Grocer, “New BrandSpark study shows how Canadian ethnic buyers shop”: www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/new-brandspark-study-shows-how-canadian-ethnic-buyers-shop-43031. In it, results from BrandSpark International’s 2014 Canadian Ethnic Shopper Study were examined, and the author discussed the buying habits of more than 8800 Canadians of South Asian, Chinese and East Asian backgrounds.

Notable findings:

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Price matters: 72% of East Asian Canadians cited value as the most important factor, along with 68% of Chinese Canadians and 66% of South Asian Canadians, compared with 62% of Canadians overall.

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Brand loyalty: South Asians and East Asians are far more likely to also say they’ll choose their favourite brands regardless of the price — 21% and 17%, respectively. Only 10% of Chinese Canadians and Canadians overall placed the same importance on brand names.

In terms of buying choices, there is a big difference in ethnic consumers’ view of ready-made, pre-packaged foods. 54% of Chinese respondents said they’d picked up a ready-to-eat meal for dinner in the past week. 48% of South Asians and 46% of East Asians said the same thing, compared to only 32% of Canadians overall.

When it comes to consumer buying behaviour, are you delivering what they want? Does your product packaging hit on the points that influence buying decisions? If not, these findings might help to motivate change.

Make sure that your custom packaging takes into account consumer buying behaviour. Call Packaging Technologies Inc. today at 1-800-303-5883.