Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

Recent research from Mintel suggests that Hispanic women feel underrepresented in the beauty and personal care aisle. Over half of survey respondents said they would like to see more personal care products designed just for them and 64% would like more hair care products created specifically for Latinas. Hispanic women are especially concerned with the box or bottle their favorite products come in. Eighty-one percent of Latinas surveyed report that they would like to see more personal care products with bilingual packaging. Younger Hispanic women are more inclined to express a desire for bilingual packaging than their older counterparts.

Many kitchen electrics and housewares categories sales appear to be rebounding in 2010. Kitchen electric categories like electric grills and griddles, food processors, coffee/espresso makers, deep fryers, electric skillets, and slow cookers have generated double-digit dollar and unit growth in the 12 months ending March ’10, compared to the same time in 2009. “Consumers are continuing their cost-cutting ways by spending more time at home, and cooking more,” said Peter Goldman, president of NPD’s home division. “Alternatively, there is an increased demand for more premium-priced products such as single-serve coffeemakers, stand mixers and juice extractors.”

One-third of online shoppers surveyed in Compete’s recent “Online Shopper Intelligence” survey said they generally use coupon sites while shopping online. When asked how much they spent on their most recent online purchase, consumers who used a coupon spent an average of $216. This figure is 56.5% higher than the average of $122 spent by consumers who did not use a coupon on their most recent online purchase. More than half of the consumers (57%) who used a coupon code during their last online purchase said that if they had not received the discount, they would not have bought the item(s). That indicates that coupons can be a highly effective sales driver and can be leveraged as such.

New research on the automotive aftermarket from The NPD Group finds there is a direct relationship between the specific attributes of price, guarantees, and brand variety, and future purchase intention. According to NPD’s Car Care Trac, the percentage of consumers who reported they “definitely will” shop a retailer again in the future declined dramatically as satisfaction with the most recent purchase occasion declined. Seventy-one percent of those who rated the most recent purchase occasion as “excellent” said they definitely will shop the retailer again. “NPD’s analysis shows the importance of understanding what really drives satisfaction and future purchase intentions at the total market level,” says David Portalatin, industry analyst for NPD’s automotive aftermarket unit.

According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation, nearly 144 million Americans or 61.9% of adults over 18 years old will celebrate the holiday the traditional way by attending or hosting a cookout/barbeque or picnic, which is the about the same as in 2009 (62.6%). Independence Day is big business; more than one-quarter (27.3%) of consumers own patriotic decorations, and as July 4th approaches, 16.2% of consumers will head to stores to buy new patriotic merchandise. “Summer promotions and sales on beach wear, picnic food and accessories should bring Americans into the stores and out of the heat as they prepare for their holiday festivities, especially with many families still relying on strict budgets,” said NRF President and CEO Matt Shay. In addition, more Americans will be traveling – AAA predicts the number of Americans traveling this Fourth of July holiday weekend will increase 17.1% from 2009, with approximately 34.9 million travelers taking a trip at least 50 miles away from home.

Health and weight management are on the minds and plates of consumers nationwide, with 43% of surveyed consumers paying more attention to calorie counts than they were in 2008. In the new Shopping for Health survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Food Marketing Institute and Prevention, more than 1,423 adult shoppers polled said sodium levels are the new top nutrition label concern (66%), tied with fat (66%) and followed closely by sugar/artificial sweeteners (65%) and calories (60%). Compared with 2009, more than one-third of shoppers say they’re buying products with more grains (whole grain, 49%; multigrain, 40%), fiber (39%), low-fat (37%) and low-sodium (34%). “This research is extremely valuable as supermarkets promote the health and wellness of their customers as a central part of their mission,” said Leslie Sarasin, FMI president and CEO.