Consumers Use Phones Like a Weapon

A great snapshot of consumers in control came in this morning's mail from Sarah Mahoney and MediaPost's Marketing Daily.

Shockingly, according to a report by Deloitte, food buying consumers are becoming aggressive as food and gas prices go up. Who knew.

"I was surprised to see that consumers are treating grocery shopping as a sport now," Pat Conroy, Deloitte's vice chairman and U.S. consumer products practice leader, tells Marketing Daily in an email. "They are no longer feeling like victims and instead have a mindset that [says] 'I can beat you at your own game when it comes to shopping in spite of you raising prices and decreasing package size'."  

The report says, (duhhh) that 88% of consumers know that prices are going up over the past two years.  Because of that and gas prices, they are going to the store less and buying less expensive food such as generic brands. 

The one NEW fun fact is that 34% of those surveyed are using their smart phones to research food prices.  That's great news for GoodGuide.com which also tells shoppers which products are better for the planet at a click. (hint: the green square products are better than the brown square)

That number -- 34% -- surprised even me. I still don't have a smart phone because of cost of the service plan is going to kill the budget, and yet this group of shoppers is taking that investment to the store and offsetting their service plan expense by using it to buy cheaper, better, greener in the store.

In the hands of super smart women with armies of kids to feed, smart phones become weapons of mass consumption.