BRAND LOYALTY AND THE LIQUOR SHOPPER
Andrew Arnold, NZ Country Manager, Shopper Intelligence, shares his insights into what you should and shouldn’t do with liquor category ranges. The other day my mind was wandering (something that happens a bit more often the older I get, but that’s an entirely different subject) as I was reading another news article on the global supply chain crunch. The memory that popped into my head was of a personal mission I was on during the early stages of the August 2021 lockdown in Auckland. My wife loves a particular brand of peanut butter and just after the lockdown started, we ran out. Not usually a big deal, it just takes a trip to our local supermarket to get a new jar. But what would normally be a 15 minute trip turned into a two-hour long tiki tour involving about eight different local stores to try and find just one jar. No luck. I tried a different brand more out of desperation than anything else. That was probably a worse decision than coming home with nothing. It was three weeks before normal 12 THE SHOUT NZ – FEBRUARY 2022
service resumed and I could find that peanut butter again, so naturally I bought four jars. What does the above story illustrate, other than one man’s desire to maintain a happy home environment? That there will always be something that a shopper will not compromise on. This is just as true in liquor as it is in peanut butter, and it is an important insight into shopper behaviour as this will directly influence what you should and shouldn’t do with category ranges. BRAND LOYALTY If you ask shoppers what they would do if their first choice isn’t available, that gives you a unique insight into what goes on in their minds when they are on a mission like I was last year. Some shoppers will simply settle for what is in front of them
Andrew Arnold, NZ Country Manager, Shopper Intelligence With 20 years’ worth of experience in NZ FMCG, Andrew has worked in a wide variety of sales and insights roles with the likes of Red Bull, Gordon & Gotch and Energizer. During his career he has led sales and insights teams to develop insight-led strategies that drive both retailer and category growth.
