Rational purchases are required in Colombian households | Economy

More rational and planned purchases are becoming increasingly important in Colombian households. That was the conclusion of Kantar Worldpanel's latest Consumer Insights study, which found that Colombia's mbad consumption basket from January to September remained stable in volume and grew by 3% in value terms.

According to the report, although this stability was presented during this period, the Colombian consumer decreased his visits to the outlets eight times. Similarly, average spending on the mbad consumption basket increased by 2% due to an 8% increase in purchase disbursements.

In addition, it was found that the food basket grew by 3% in volume during the nine months of the year. while that of beverages does not recover and maintains its poor performance having an impact on total consumption.

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For its part, the basket of personal care, after a difficult year 2017, remained stable in volume for the period from January to September 2018. "The consumer is confronted with a different scenario in which, to maintain its consumption, it must reflect by reducing the frequency of purchases, so that average expenditure and disbursement increase, "said Andrés Simon, country manager of Kantar Worldpanel.

According to Simon, this leads Colombian households to become more and more "more responsible in their consumption", that is to say that they make more rational and planned purchases. As a result, citizens are looking for alternative savings, such as discount stores that are gaining more and more land in the country.

(Read: Household spending rose in October)

Given this, according to the study of the company, This type of institution accelerates its growth according to the frequency of purchases – every ten days – and mainly affects large chains and traditional channels.

"What we can see is that buyers are looking for convenience and savings, but they also want experiences and specialization, they want these features while trying different categories and new channels. Discount formats continue to drive growth, while mini-markets and gas hyperbodes are also reaching new consumers, "said Simon.

The consumer approach to brands is another factor underlying the study that leads to more responsible purchasing. According to Kantar, own brands have gained 10 points of penetration in households last year and already account for 77% of participation against 23% of manufacturers' brands.

Simon said that 70% of the revenue generated by own brands this year is achieved by discount chains, which have become the main driver of this type of product. "Households make an average of 27 annual visits in discounted formats to acquire these products, where they acquire about six units each visit and the average cost of the total purchase is 15,000 pesos," said the responsible.

These data vary in relation to the own brands of different chains – for example – the average price decreases to $ 9,000, average visits are 17 per year and units purchased on average are 4.

By regions, Kantar found that Bogotá is the region that contributes most in volume for all of its own brands and the discount chain brands, while the Atlantic region contributes with the channel brands.

In this aspect, it has also been detected that all Colombians buy their own brands but, depending on the type of consumer, they are bought in discount stores or in chain stores. Kantar has thus found that the faithful consumer of this type of category prefers to do so in the first case, whereas the consumer who only tests his own brand does so in the second case.

"We found that 1 in 5 Colombians faithfully buy their own brands and spend one-third of their expenses on these products," said Simon.

Faced with categories, according to the study Cooking oils, laundry detergents and liquid milk are the ones that attract the most brands at home. However, there is currently a high level of participation in categories such as household cleaning such as paper towels; tortillas; yucca and frozen potatoes; bleach; liquid detergent and towels.