As inflation rages, give back a lifestyle lifeline

Cost-of-living. It dominates the headlines, has done for months and is showing no let up. We know this and we’ve covered it before. We also know that we’re not all in the same boat. The reality is more complex than the headlines imply.

A recent YouGov survey highlights this perfectly. It shows what the country has cut back on and how spending by category has changed in a six-month period.

It also has direct pointers on how to help customers maintain a lifestyle without busting the bank. Understand your customers behaviours and lifestyle aspirations and you can be ready with real, high emotional value, solutions. That’s the topline - the reality of every business is obviously very different. To illustrate, here’s a quick take on the YouGov survey.

You can give customers back what they’re cutting out.

A quick scan of the survey highlights where savings are being made. As expected, the ‘treat’ elements of our lifestyles have taken a hit. However, what is more interesting is the right column. It illustrates reality by showing cut-back behaviour of those who spend in the respective category.

Take cinema visits. First glance shows 22% have cut-back. However, not everyone goes to the cinema. Look at the nation’s film goers and a whopping near 50% have reduced their spend. The next table in the survey digs deeper and highlights where spend has shifted to or stopped completely – so for cinema 10% of the market go less often and over 10% of all cinema goers have stopped altogether. You can positively impact this hit on customers’ lifestyles.

Reduce customer pain AND get more bang for your promotional buck

The table confirms (unsurprisingly) the reality that the categories (excluding clothes and holidays) experiencing the largest cutbacks are those where we treat ourselves:

·        Luxury items

·        Takeaways

·        Eating out

·        Day trips

·        Cinema visits

·        Beauty

·        Gym memberships

Here’s the reality that jumped out to us – excuse the pitch but….

Guess what? Every year we delight hundreds of thousands of client customers with eating out experiences, family days out and experiences, cinema visits, beauty and hair treatments, gym memberships and classes, and a lot more. The very things customers are right now cutting from their lives.

Our deep and long partner relationships with the brands in these very sectors are at the heart of our business - low-cost, high-perceived value, brand aligned promotional marketing campaigns. We get great deals to fill spare capacity and attract new custom.

And here’s the best bit. As customers cut spending spare capacity increases, driving even better promotional deals. With the new reality facing these sectors where up to 50% of customers are cutting back and, in many cases, nearly 10% of customers are halting consumption totally there are some fantastic deals to be had. Right now.

Whatever your business, there is a promotional partner that will enable you to give your customers a real helping hand in these uncertain times.

So, as customers cut back – or stop completely - step in. Allow them to enjoy a bit of what they love. Think how emotionally powerful that is to them? They’ll love the brand that enabled the whole family to catch the latest release, have a day-out or allowed mum to be pampered. It really can be a win all round.