© DataTalk Research Ltd January 2014 Page 1

Brand Experience Now Most Influential

in Purchase Decisions

Brand overtakes advice from Family and friends and extends its lead over discounts in 2013.

The latest league table of what influences peoples’ choice of brand or retailer shows that Past Experience of the brand or store has become the thing that influences more peoples’ choice than any other factor.

While movements up and down the table indicate the trend it is still clear that ‘trust’ is the dominant influencer. Trust in a consumers own experience or in the advice of people they trust. Price is the second consideration with ‘point of sale’ remaining the most important in terms of location.

2012 Ranking

2013 Ranking

Ranking Change

Number Change

Past Experience 2 1

Advice from Friends and Family 1 2

In Store Discounts 3 3

Price Comparison Websites 5 4

Offers or Vouchers through Door 4 5

On Line Customer Reviews 8 6

Seen on TV 6 7

Email Offers/Vouchers 7 8

Magazine/Newspaper Reviews 9 9

Internet Offers; Groupon etc 11 10

Sales Person Advice 10 11

On Pack Promotions 12 12

Newspaper Offers/Vouchers 13 13

Professional Advisor 14 14

Offers by Post 15 15

Leaflets while Shopping 16 16

Recommendations on Social Networks 18 17

Brands on Facebook Twitter etc 19 18

Competitions 17 19

Prize Draws 22 20

Mobile Phone Offers 21 21

Celebrity Endorsement 20 22

© DataTalk Research Ltd January 2014 Page 2

Interestingly, or even surprisingly considering the amount of marketing effort deployed, vouchers and offers seem to be declining in influence. The exception being Internet offers like Groupon etc which had shown a rise in terms of position but even that shows a fall in terms of the number of people influenced.

The chart (left) illustrated the actual numbers in terms of percentage of the population influenced by each factor in 2013 compared to 2012.

There is a great deal of consistency in the figures with the ‘big two’ being clearly ahead and In Store Discounts a clear third.

What is significant is that the newer digital influences are not showing any significant growth. The top two being On line Customer Reviews and Price Comparison Websites which suggest ‘advice’ in terms of quality and price and Email and Internet offers for discounts.

Social Media and Mobile seem not to be really registering with consumers.

Further analysis of the data can identify which influences are most prevalent in different sections of the population and different consumer groups. This can also be linked to their purchase intentions and communication channel preferences.

Data is available either in a pre-packaged module with basic demographics and 7 different geodemographic segmentations (Acorn, Cameo, Censation, Mosaic, Personicx, P2 and OAC) or as a custom data set combining ‘Influence’ with any other British Consumer Index data.

Other ‘modules available cover; Communication Channels, Sectors and Financial Optimism. See www.bcindex.co.uk/focus-data-sets for details.

For more details contact; Steve Abbott; E- stevea@thebps.co.uk T- 0203 286 1981

Notes: Figures are collected by The British Population Survey by face to face in home interviews with a population representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 15+ per month (total 2013 sample size = 11,923).

Modules are priced at £350 per module and are fully analysable in Excel pivot table format from www.bcindex.co.uk/focus-data-sets