Brand loyalty, advertised emissions, budgets: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Half of Brits have ditched a favourite brand due to cost crisis

More than half (56%) of British shoppers have switched away from a brand they were once loyal to due to inflation and the rising cost of living.

Of the 2,000 consumers surveyed, almost two thirds (64%) reported having changed their attitude towards loyalty in the last year. Around one in five (19%) agree they can “no longer afford to be loyal”.

Consumers cite rising prices as their number one reason for leaving favourite brands. A similar proportion (55%) say a difficult shopping experience is a reason for dropping brands, and 47% cite selling poor quality products.

Personalised deals are one incentive that may persuade customers to stay loyal, suggests the research. Seven in 10 (71%) of those surveyed say personalised discounts, incentives and rewards delivered in a bespoke way are important to them.

Consumers with lower incomes find it harder to stay loyal to brands. Of those surveyed, 44% of people in a household with an income of £8,000 or less consider themselves “loyal” to a certain type of retailer, brand or store, compared to 71% of those from a household with an income of £120,000 or more.

Source: Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index

Advertised emissions set to rise by 11% between 2019 and 2022

Advertised emissions – the uplift in greenhouse gas emissions from the increase in sales generated by advertising – are set to rise by 11% between 2019 to 2022.

These emissions did fall by 22% in 2020 during the pandemic, however in 2021 the figure returned to the same level as in 2019. Alarmingly, 2022 advertised emissions are on track to increase by 12%. This means that the UK advertising industry has grown its contribution to every citizen’s carbon footprint from 28% in 2019 to 32% in 2022.

That increase of 22 million tonnes of CO2e between 2019 to 2022 equates to running nine coal-fired power plants for a year.

These figures come from a report from Purpose Disrupters, written in collaboration with econometrics agency Magic Numbers. Purpose Disrupters will present the report today (14 November) at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.

“The updated Advertised Emissions: The Temperature Check 2022 report shows that advertised emissions are going up, and our climate emergency is getting worse,” says co-founder of Purpose Disruptors Jonathan Wise.

“This report will provide the necessary stimulus to talk about the elephant in the room: Advertising drives consumption and consumption drives carbon emissions.”

Source: Purpose Disruptors/Magic Numbers

Economic outlook impacting business plans for almost all marketers

The vast majority (95%) of marketers worldwide expect the global economic outlook to impact their 2023 business plans.

Of the 1,700 marketing executives surveyed, 36% report they intend to decrease marketing spend. This is higher than the 31% who indicate they plan to up marketing investment. However, this proportion is up from last year, when 23% indicated they would be increasing spend.

“The recession is real. That’s something that’s led to a new effort on our end around value, marketing and messaging. At a time like this, it’s important to not cut back on our marketing. [It’s a time to]… lean in. But not just to market, it’s to lean into how we can help our consumers,” says Campbell Soup/Meats and Beverages CMO Linda Lee, commenting on the findings.

Over six in 10 (62%) of the marketers surveyed also believe the big tech companies are having to shift strategies in the face of a range of changing market factors. For the first time in six years, the WARC survey shows a net negative investment sentiment towards Facebook, with 30% of respondents planning on decreasing their investment versus 23% who are planning to increase.

Supply chain challenges are also on the horizon for a significant number of businesses, with 26% of those surveyed saying they expect significant or severe supply chain issues. Over half of those surveyed (52%) believe these issues will be worse for challenger brands.

When it comes to their continuing commitment to tackling the climate crisis, 72% of marketers anticipate their environmental plans will remain unchanged, but for 28% the outlook is less optimistic.

Source: WARC

Majority of young people feel they didn’t learn the right digital skills at school

Over eight in 10 (85%) young people in the UK feel they didn’t learn workplace skills for digital forward jobs at school, according to a survey of 2,000 16- to 24-year-olds.

The research comes from agency The&Partnership, which partnered with YouGov to establish young people’s attitudes to skills training and further education. It finds almost half (45%) of young people are unaware of apprenticeship schemes designed to train them for digital jobs.

Many of the young people surveyed (42%) feel their formal education did not equip them with workplace and employability skills. The cost of living crisis is also causing one in three young people to rule out pursuing further education.

Source: The&Partnership/YouGov

UK retail spend forecast to fall by 5.6% this December

Retail spend in the UK is predicted to fall 5.6% year over year this December, as rising food prices mean consumers cut back in other areas.

Consumers will be spending more on food but buying less, forecasts GlobalData. It predicts consumers will spend 3.8%, 4.3% and 5.2% more year over year on food in October, November and December, respectively. However, across the fourth quarter, volumes are forecast to be down 10.6% on last year.

While inflation means consumers will be forced to spend more on food, non-food spending will see double-digit value decline year on year in November and December. GlobalData predicts non-food sales will fall by 13.2% in December 2022.

There will be value growth decline in October, November and December across online and offline channels. However, online will see a much worse performance compared to last year. In December, online value growth is predicted to decline by 12.9%, whereas offline will decline by just 2.6%.

“Soaring inflation has caused food bills to rise rapidly, and we expect that while shoppers will still treat themselves over Christmas, they will essentially be spending more to get less,” says GlobalData UK retail research director Patrick O’Brien.

“As a result of consumers spending extra on food, there will be less left over for non-essentials, and many consumers will reduce spend on other holiday-related items such as gifts.”

Source: GlobalData