Loyalty Royalty:
Personalization Reigns Supreme
The dunnhumby Quarterly: August 2023
The fourth edition of The dunnhumby Quarterly
Every few months, we help grocery retailers understand who’s winning in the market – and why – by uniting insights from economic trends, customer needs, and competitive positioning of the 60 to 70 largest retailers in the U.S. grocery market. We also capture the perspectives of our battle tested grocery industry consultants. Each edition dives deep into a different theme. This quarter, the theme uniting all our content is “Loyalty Royalty: Personalization Reigns Supreme.”
WHAT CONSUMER TRENDS TO KEEP AN EYE ON
Consumer Trends Tracker: Wave 4
In the latest wave of our ongoing Consumer Trends Tracker (CTT), we review the results of a survey on consumer perception regarding inflation and corresponding behavior. As the data shows, inflation is not uniform in its impact. Depending on demographics, geography, and product category, shopping behavior has varied significantly. One opportunity: personalize the customer experience.
WHAT CONSUMER TRENDS TO KEEP AN EYE ON
Consumer Trends Tracker: Wave 5; Focus on AI
How do US consumers perceive Artificial Intelligence (AI)? How do perceptions vary among different consumer groups and where should the grocery industry be focusing its AI efforts?
dunnhumby’s Consumer Trends Tracker (CTT) – a window into the nation’s grocery consumer needs, behaviors, and perceptions – is well placed to shed a light on this topic. In this current edition (Wave Five) of the CTT, we collected data from 2,000 nationally representative consumers in August 2023, and included questions about their attitudes toward AI.
WHAT ECONOMIC FACTORS ARE AT PLAY
Eyes on the Economy: Light at the end of the tunnel?
Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? While grocery sales will likely be up 6-8% YoY, inflation-adjusted sales will actually be in negative territory. At the same time, disposable income – a significant component to stimulus-related spending – is softening. This contraction in inflation-adjusted sales is likely mostly due to shoppers shifting behaviors to lower priced products, lower priced channels, and fewer non essentials, as inflation for food-at-home prices will likely persist at these historic levels. In this article, we do a deeper dive into consumer behavior data and share what the numbers mean for grocers.
WHO IS WINNING AND WHY
Retailer Preference Index: Special Personalization Edition
Introducing a special edition of dunnhumby’s Retailer Preference Index (RPI), adapted to see which retailers personalize the shopping experience for their customers. This comprehensive, nationwide study examines the $1 trillion U.S. grocery market and identifies retailers best positioned to gain share during times of economic uncertainty and – perhaps more importantly – build emotional connection with shoppers now and in the future. Inspired by the dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index for U.S. Grocery — the industry’s first annual ranking of retailers based on both financial performance and Customer sentiment — our goal is to help grocers understand what they should be doing to best position themselves to win today and tomorrow.
