Price vs. Quality vs. Health vs. Brand

With the economic crisis, prominent health campaigns and the recent ‘horsegate’ saga there is a lot for shoppers to consider when choosing what to buy.  Focusing on four of the biggest drivers of product choice (Price, Quality, Health and Brand) we set out to explore what is important to shoppers and how these interact with one another.  Firstly we need to understand what exactly price, quality, health and brand mean to shoppers and how this varies between different demographics. 

The best price means different things to different shoppers.  Unit price is the most popular measure of best price but some shoppers judge value by different measures, such as the biggest saving, the overall cheapest available or the cheapest from their preferred repertoire.

How shoppers judge an item to be good quality is an important driver of item choice.  The majority judge quality from previous experience, but what about items they haven’t tried before? 

What do shoppers look at when trying to decide if a product is healthy or not?  With labels containing fat, salt, sugar and calorie contents what do shoppers use to make their choices. What are shoppers’ perception of brands in relation to price, quality and health?  For example, our research shows that almost 2 in 5 shoppers are willing to pay more for branded food.

Our research has shown that price and quality are equally important to shoppers suggesting that although still aware of their tight budgets they are seeking quality as well.  This means shoppers search for items which reach a balance between affordability and good quality.  In fact, Kantar classed 14% of all shoppers (5.5 million individuals) as ‘Quality Crusaders’ compared to 16% who were classed as ‘Strategic Savers’ (for whom price and savings are crucial drivers).

Health is generally the third most important driver to product choice although this varies among different demographic groups.  Healthy food is seen as expensive by those on the tightest budgets with these shoppers also being the most reluctant to pay more for healthy food. Brand appears to be the least important driver to product choice compared to price, quality and health, suggesting that shoppers loyalty to brands is likely to be switched for better quality or prices.

But the relationship between price, quality, health and brand is not as straight forward as a simple hierarchy.  Not only do these factors differ among shoppers and their personal circumstances and needs these drivers of item choice also vary depending on what category is being shopped.  For instance health is a more important consideration when shopping for yoghurt than other categories and less important when shopping for biscuits.  This is understandable as yoghurts tend to be seen as a healthy category with plenty of probiotic and low sugar options available whereas biscuits are an unhealthy treat so shoppers are unlikely to consider ‘health’ when shopping for them.   

The relationship between price, quality, health and brand is a complex one.  Different factors are important for different shoppers and when choosing different categories.  This  goes some way to show the complexity of the decision making process of shoppers undergo when shopping for food and groceries.