The 'conflicted shopper' weighs value vs. values

Author

Stephen Babcock
May 10, 2023

Is value outweighing values in the minds of shoppers? An Asendia study found that the answer was yes, as price topped the list of buying factors for 52% of consumers surveyed. But sustainability is still important to people, and they are considering how items are made just as much as what they’re paying. The “conflicted shopper” is weighing all of these factors at once, the study concludes. Retailers must deliver on all of them.

As it seeks to reduce fulfillment costs, Amazon has tried a couple of sticks this year. Now, it’s offering a carrot. The company is offering to pay some customers to retrieve an item in person, as opposed to having it delivered. With the move, it is putting pickup points such as Whole Foods and Kohls to work. – Reuters

New this morning: Headline inflation came down in April to 4.9%. That’s just a slight downtick from the 5% rate in March, and probably won’t do much to change consumer behavior. Meanwhile, online prices are continuing a faster fall, dropping 1.8% annually in April, according to the Adobe Digital Price Index.

TikTok’s closely-watched ecommerce rollout is being pushed back at least until June. The Wall Street Journal reports that merchants aren’t joining at the rate expected, in part because of concerns about the company’s future in the U.S. and in part because of livestreaming’s slower stateside adoption. In the meantime, parent company ByteDance launched another social app called Lemon8 in the U.S. in February. – The Wall Street Journal

Add Uber Eats to the list of marketplaces growing retail media. The app’s expansion beyond restaurants is yielding new ways for brands to stand out. Uber Eats added sponsored items ads, providing visibility at the point of purchase. PepsiCo was the first CPG to test the new feature, and it is now seeing a wider launch.

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