Webloyalty Easter Retail Report 2014 - a focus on consumer behaviour

Easter 2014
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13
© 2014 Webloyalty & Conlumino
enquiries@webloyalty.co.uk | 020 7291 8720
Looking ahead ... Easter
March 2014
Easter trading tips for retailers
1 Multi-buy offers are key
Food is central to the Easter festivities and the holiday presents a significant opportunity for supermarkets. With the grocery
sector becoming characterised by falling loyalty in the wake of the recession, one way to boost basket sizes may be to offer
multi-buy deals on products featured in traditional Easter recipes such as the meat and vegetables of a traditional Sunday
roast. Waitrose has taken this one-step further by offering deals on ingredients featured in recipes from celebrity chef,
Heston Blumenthal. Focussing the campaign on a recipe in this way provides consumers with encouragement and guidance
to invest in less familiar ingredients. In 2013 the campaign for Heston’s Easter roast lamb featuring a recipe inspired by his
boyhood memories of holidaying in Provence boosted sales of anchovies by 400%. With more than half of consumers in our
survey (52.1%) typically waiting for multi-buy deals before purchasing Easter eggs, combining promotions in this way looks
like a recipe for success.
2 Harness social media
In recent years supermarkets have been receiving plaudits for the quality and value for money of their own-brand Easter
eggs, yet despite rising Easter egg prices, own-brand eggs still lag far behind branded eggs in terms of popularity. Marketing
is certainly one area where there is room for improvement. The success of Cadbury’s “Have a Fling with a Creme Egg”
Facebook campaign shows that perhaps social media may be a good platform to boost consumer awareness of own-brand
eggs. The key lies in making the content interactive and engaging, employing a campaign slogan ideally with a hashtag to
encourage trending and build momentum around the brand together with a clear narrative to weave the campaign story
together.
3 Bring technology into stores
Providing instore technology is another way for multichannel retailers to stand out from the crowd. For example,
Augmented Reality enables retailers to bring static catalogue and instore imagery to life with the help of smartphone apps
and provides a way for customers to gain access to extra content, making the shopping experience more fun and interactive.
In 2013 Asda employed this to good effect with an Augmented Reality Easter Egg hunt in over 400 of its stores using the
Asda mobile app.
4 Encourage family fun
The Easter period is critical for gardening and DIY retailers, yet shopping for DIY products is hardly the most entertaining or
glamorous activity. The leisure mix in out of town retail parks has improved markedly in recent years, but retailers could
still do more to appeal to families looking to combine shopping for their homes and gardens over the Easter period with a
family day out. B&Q for example, has experimented with offering classes aimed at children over the Easter weekend,
including one which involved assembling a wooden Easter egg holder.

Easter 2014
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14
March 2014
Easter trading tips for retailers
5 Keep a handle on your supply chain
In such a competitive market place with competing promotions forcing prices down, retailers must do all they can to protect
those precious margins. This is particularly the case in sectors such as furniture where the Easter sales period sends rival
retailers into a discounting frenzy. Taking control of the manufacturing process is one way to keep supply chain costs down,
but not all businesses have the wherewithal to manufacture their own products. This is where direct sourcing comes into its
own. Dunelm has already made direct sourcing a major part of its growth strategy to protect its value credentials, while Oak
Furniture Land keeps costs down by commissioning its furniture direct from factories in India, China and Vietnam rather
than pay inflated fees from wholesalers.
6 Plan for unexpected weather
The perennial unpredictability of the British weather is making it more and more difficult for retailers to plan and time
promotions effectively. Homebase, for example, has introduced a dynamic advertising strategy to rapidly shift the focus of
its campaigns according to the weather: focussing on home improvement and DIY during prolonged periods of rain and
switching back to outdoor living when the sun begins to shine. Having a predominantly British supplier base has also helps
it to rapidly reconfigure its product selection in changing meteorological conditions. The strategy could equally apply to
food retailers switching between comfort food promotions during a cold snap to burgers, sausages, salads and other popular
barbecue and picnic items should the sun come out to shine. Flexible stock management could also be the answer for
fashion retailers, many of whom were caught out by a lack of interest in their seasonal clothing ranges during last year’s cold
snap.

Easter 2014
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15
March 2014
Retail sector trends and forecasts
Forecast growth of the Easter retail market
2013 – 2014
Easter spending forecasts
Market Dynamics
Total Easter market
Many retailers are facing an uphill struggle to coax spend
out of hard-up consumers. Last year widespread snow and
ice made for tough Easter trading conditions and although
2014 has already witnessed record rainfall, the prospects
for warmer weather are good. Whilst that bodes well for
some, it may impact negatively on others. Home &
furnishings, electricals and to an extent DIY retailers are
likely to suffer a fall in footfall if the sun does come out .
That said, a generally improving economy and housing
market is likely to elicit increased demand across much of
the retail sector, albeit that perhaps now more than ever
consumers are prepared to shop around to achieve the best
value on offer.
4,220
4,355
Total Easter retail spend (£m)
2013
2014
+3.2%
710 720
Easter Gifts (£m)
2013
2014
Easter gifts
Not only are retailers facing off against the prospect of
increasingly limited disposable incomes, but there is a
growing apathy towards Easter as an occasion which is
impacting upon the gift market.
In spite of dramatic price increases in recent years, Easter
eggs have largely retained their popularity. In the face of
rising demand for chocolate in emerging markets, cocoa
prices have leapt up recently and retailers may look to once
again pass some of this extra cost on to consumers at
Easter. Inflation-driven growth in food gifts is likely to be at
least partially offset by deflation in the non-food sector as
retailers look to discount to drive volumes.
+1.4%

Easter 2014
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16
March 2014
Retail sector trends and forecasts
Forecast growth of the Easter retail market
2013 – 2014
Easter spending forecasts
Market Dynamics
Food & drink
A sunny spell over Easter would be particularly
welcome for food and grocery retailers as Britons bring
out the barbecues. Although there has been some
slowdown in food inflation in recent months, this has
largely been driven by a stabilising in prices for ambient
food while fresh food inflation continues apace.
Despite the promises to source from British farms in the
wake of the horsemeat scandal, retailers are
increasingly sourcing cheaper Polish and Irish beef
which should help to offset rising meat prices.
Nevertheless, food & grocery is set for a 4.5% uplift
compared to Easter 2013 thanks largely to inflation and
rising demand for fresh produce in the event of warmer
weather.
2,010
2,100
Food & drink (£m)
2013
2014
1,500 1,535
Non-food seasonal (£m)
2013
2014
Non-food seasonal
Greater momentum in the housing market is likely to be
of particular benefit to DIY and home retailers this
Easter.
Last year seasonal clothing ranges suffered due to the
poor weather and barring any repeat of extreme
weather conditions, seasonal ranges should put in a
stronger performance in Easter 2014.
As a result of these factors the non-food seasonal
market is anticipated to rise by 2.3% to £1,535m.
+4.5%
+2.3%

Easter 2014
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March 2014
4,220 4,355
Total Easter retail spend (£m)
2013
2014
Easter spending forecasts : 2014
Forecast market size and growth rates
+2.4%
710
2,010 1,500
720
2,100 1,535
Gifts Food & grocery Non-food seasonal
2012
2013
+1.4
%
+2.3
%
+4.5%
316,681 324,126
Total retail spend (£m)
2013
2014
+3.2%

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Summary of Easter consumer data
Easter – unimportant and over-commercialised
The economic malaise has led to a growing cynicism around many popular retail occasions and
Easter is no exception. 72.8% of consumers feel that Easter has become far too commercial, while for
almost half (47.4%) Easter is either not that important or totally unimportant. Early indications are
that despite the increase in consumer conﬁdence and a seemingly resurgent economy, consumer
attitudes to spending at Easter will remain fairly static this year with the vast majority of consumers
(79.7%) intending to spend about the same as they did in 2013.
The great British Easter Sunday roast
The tradition of the Easter Sunday roast appears to be alive and well with a notable segment of
consumers. Over a quarter (26.4%) plan to cook a special meal or roast on a Sunday; a trend which
looks set to boost sales of chickens and lamb in particular (17.0% of consumers intend to buy a
chicken for roasting, while 12.6% are set to buy lamb). Fish has emerged as a popular alternative with
9.0% of consumers, putting it, perhaps surprisingly, ahead of other meats on 4.4%. Enthusiasm for
Easter table decorations is low though with just 2.0% of consumers planning to purchase them.
A time to tend to the garden
The freezing Spring of 2013 proved to be disastrous for the gardening and outdoor living markets and
retailers will be praying for more favourable weather conditions this year. Almost a ﬁfth (17.8%) of
consumers intend to use their time over Easter to do some gardening making it one of the most
popular Easter activities. Linked to this, over a tenth (10.3%) of consumers intend to purchase
outdoor plants, bulbs and seeds this Easter. The tough trading conditions last year led to many garden
centres campaigning to end the Easter Sunday trading restrictions which curtail their sales potential
during what is one of the most critical periods in the gardening calendar.
Own-brand Easter eggs have some catching up to do
Despite almost two thirds (62.5%) of consumers viewing Easter eggs as poor value for money, their
popularity endures – 42.4% intend to buy chocolate eggs for children, while 34.2% will be buying them
for adults. Branded eggs dominate with 58.1% of consumers intending to buy mostly or solely branded
Easter eggs. This is despite the fact that the past few years have witnessed some substantial price
increases on Easter eggs, while at the same time supermarkets have been commended for the quality
and value for money of their eggs. Asda and Tesco in particular have had notable successes in taste
tests over the past two Easters. It seems that something may be lacking in the marketing of own-brand
Easter eggs as just 33.2% of consumers agreed that own-brand eggs are the equal of branded ones.

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Easter views and spending prospects
Consumers show high degree of apathy towards Easter
Chart to the left shows the proportion of consumers that hold certain views on the
importance of Easter. Chart to the right shows the proportion of consumers that say they
will spend more, about the same and less on Easter products in 2014 compared to 2013.
18.7
28.7
31.7
12.3
8.7
Easter is
totally
unimportant
to me
Easter is not
that
important to
me
Easter
matters to
me, but it’s
not a big deal
Easter is an
important
occasion for
me
Easter is a
very
important
occasion for
me
How important is Easter? (%) How much are you intending to spend this
Easter compared to last year? (%)
6.4 6.3
79.7
6.2
1.3
Signiﬁcantly
less
A bit less About the
same
A bit more Signiﬁcantly
more

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Easter activities
Chart shows the proportion of consumers that plan to undertake various diﬀerent
activities over Easter.
•  Bearing in mind the lack of importance that
many consumers seem to be attributing to
Easter this year, it is perhaps unsurprising that
consumers’ planned activities are decidedly
low-key.
•  Relaxing at home is by far the most popular
planned activity, while cooking and baking
feature prominently. 13.3% of consumers plan
to bake cakes, biscuits or cookies over Easter,
though cooking and baking are the most
gender-skewed of the activities in the survey;
more than twice the proportion of female
consumers intend to bake (18.1% compared to
7.6% of men) while almost a third of women
(32.9%) plan to cook a special meal compared
to less than one ﬁfth of men (18.6%).
What are consumers planning to do this Easter?
Figures in all charts are percentages
The Easter Sunday meal takes centre stage
2.6
2.8
3.2
3.7
4.8
6.2
8.3
10.6
10.8
11.5
13.3
17.8
18.6
21.8
26.4
44.1
Something else
Take a holiday abroad
Spend more time at the pub
Have a drinks party for family or friends
Take a holiday in the UK
Go and stay with family
Have family to stay over
Visit friends
Do DIY jobs around the house
Attend a church service
Bake a cake, biscuits or cookies
Do gardening
Visit relatives
Nothing, do not observe the occasion at all
Cook a special meal or a roast on Easter Sunday
Relax at home

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Easter purchases
Chart shows the proportion of consumers that intend to purchase various different
products for Easter.
•  Hot cross buns and Easter eggs as the
quintessential Easter foods, top the list of
products consumers intend to purchase this
Easter.
•  Just 1.2% of consumers said that they are
intending to purchase barbecues or
barbecue equipment. This may be a
hangover from the unseasonably cold
weather that dampened the Easter
festivities in 2013 and is a reflection of just
how weather-dependent this category can
be. As is customary in the UK, any
prolonged glimpse of sunshine is likely to
see barbecue sales soar.
•  More worringly for DIY retailers will be the
relative lack of enthusiasm for DIY products
with just 2.8% intending to buy decorating
equipment and only 2.3% other DIY
products. After disastrous sales figures over
Easter 2013, retailers will be hoping that the
recent momentum in the housing market
will help to precipitate a change in fortunes
for 2014.
What products will consumers be buying this Easter?
Figures in all charts are percentages
Traditional Easter gifts show enduring popularity
0.5
0.6
0.7
1.2
1.9
2.0
2.3
2.7
2.8
3.7
3.9
4.4
6.3
9.0
9.5
10.3
11.8
12.6
14.4
17.0
34.2
42.4
44.5
Indoor power tools
Garden power tools (including lawnmowers)
Indoor hand tools
BBQ and BBQ equipment
Easter household decorations
Easter table decorations
Other DIY products
Other (non-chocolate) sweets and candy
Decorating products (paint, wallpaper, etc.)
Non-food Easter gifts
Simnel cake
Other meat
Easter biscuits
Fish
Other chocolates
Outdoor plants, bulbs and seeds
Fresh cut flowers for indoors
Lamb
Easter cards
Chicken for roasting
Chocolate eggs for adults
Chocolate eggs for children
Hot cross buns

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Consumer attitudes towards Easter
All figures are percentages
As with a number of other occasions, Easter is being met with growing cynicism, with over two-thirds of respondents
believing that the occasion has become too commercial. This cynicism is perhaps a more general reflection of
religion gradually representing less of an importance among an increasingly secular UK population.
» Easter is an important time to connect with family and
friends 10.8 34.7 35.3 9.6 9.7
» Easter is an important celebration for me 8.7 19.4 30.8 21.5 19.5
» Easter has a religious significance for me 10.1 17.8 23.2 18.0 31.0
» Easter has become far too commercial these days 37.4 35.4 22.4 3.5 1.3
» Easter is a time to splash out on good food and drink 3.5 19.3 42.5 20.4 14.4
Strongly agree Agree
Neither agree
nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
All figures are percentages
» Easter is a good time to catch up on odd jobs about the house 8.9 33.5 42.1 9.7 5.8
3.5 17.1 55.4 16.0 8.1» I tend to leave my Easter shopping until the very last minute
Consumer attitudes

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Consumer attitudes towards Easter
All ﬁgures are percentages
» Easter eggs are poor value for money 25.6 36.9 25.1 10.5 1.8
» Easter eggs are a very important part of Easter 12.2 37.1 32.6 10.6 7.6
» I would rather receive a normal chocolate bar than an
Easter egg 14.7 20.2 39.3 20.4 5.4
» I tend to buy Easter eggs when there are multi-buy deals on 19.5 33.1 29.0 9.3 9.0
» Retailer own brand Easter eggs are just as good as branded
ones 8.0 25.2 45.0 15.5 6.2
Strongly agree Agree
Neither agree
nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
» Easter eggs are for adults as well as kids 24.2 39.3 26.6 7.1 2.8
24.5 30.8 32.7 8.6 3.4» There is too much pressure on parents to buy Easter eggs
for kids
» Cadbury’s Creme Eggs should be available all year round,
not just at Easter
20.5 23.0 36.8 9.8 9.8
Consumer attitudes

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Preferred Easter egg brands
1st choice
Lindt 13.7
Thorntons 12.4
Creme Egg (Full-size
Easter Egg)
8.7
Green & Blacks 7.3
Ferrero Rocher 6.5
Dairy Milk 6.5
Mini Eggs (full size
Easter egg)
4.6
Maltesers 4.3
Flake 3.6
Buttons 3.3
2nd choice
Thorntons 11.2
Lindt 7.4
Ferrero Rocher 6.6
Dairy Milk 6.1
Easter Egg)
6.1
Maltesers 5.4
Flake 5.3
Easter egg)
5.2
Green & Blacks 5.1
Cadbury's Caramel 3.9
3rd choice
Thorntons 7.5
Lindt 6.4
Ferrero Rocher 6.0
Easter Egg)
5.9
Flake 5.8
Dairy Milk 5.8
Easter egg)
4.6
Maltesers 4.3
Green & Blacks 4.1
Thorntons were the most popular brand of Easter egg in our survey, with almost one third (31.1%) of consumers naming them as one of the
top three Easter eggs they would like to receive. Perhaps the key tenet of CEO, Jonathan Hart’s turnaround strategy for Thorntons has been to
boost the company’s commercial arm by focussing more on selling to other retailers where margins are slimmer, but there is potential for a
much a greater volume of sales . So far the plan seems to be working with Thornton’s primed for renewed growth and it certainly looks as
though the brand has been boosted by greater visibility on supermarket shelves. Cadbury’s Creme Egg are a notable recent marketing
success story. 2013 saw the brand ignite a reversal in fortunes following several years of declining sales thanks, in part, to a successful social
media offensive. The campaign which invited consumers to “Have a fling with a Creme Egg” was targeted at the key 16-24 age group that are
perceived as being harder to reach with standard TV advertising. Encouraging consumers to interact and engage with the brand played its
part in a significant sales uplift in 2013 and this year over a fifth of consumers (20.7%) mentioned Creme Eggs as one of their top three most
wanted brands.
Mentions in top 3
Thorntons 31.1
Lindt 27.6
Easter Egg) 20.7
Ferrero Rocher 19.1
Dairy Milk 18.4
Green & Blacks 16.4
Flake 14.8
Easter egg) 14.3
Maltesers 14.0
Consumers were asked to select their top three from a selection of Easter egg brands, grading them as first second or third
choice. The tables above show the top ten brands selected as first, second and third as well as a combined table which ranks
the brands by overall number of mentions in consumers’ top three choices.
Easter Egg purchasing

Easter 2014
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March 2014
Easter Egg purchasing
Branded Easter eggs dominate
20.7
31.3
22.4
8.3 7.6
9.5
1 to 2 3 to 4 5 to 6 7 to 8 9 to 10 More than
10
Chart to the left shows the proportion of consumers that intend to buy certain quantities
of Easter eggs. Chart to the right shows the proportion of consumers that intend to buy
branded or unbranded Easter eggs.
5.0
7.7
29.2
34.9
23.2
I will only buy
retailer own
brand Easter
eggs
I will mostly
buy retailer
own brand
Easter eggs
I will equally
buy retailer
own brand
and branded
Easter eggs
I will mostly
buy branded
Easter eggs
I will only buy
branded
Easter eggs
How many Easter eggs are
consumers intending to buy? (%)
Branded or unbranded? (%)

Methodology
About the research

Methodology
Page
27
March 2014
Methodologies and sources
•  A combination of consumer research, secondary research and market
forecasting were used to compile this report.
•  Consumer research in this report is based on a survey conducted with a
UK nationally representative poll of consumers. Over 2,000
consumers were interviewed during early February 2014 and
questioned about their views on Easter and their likely shopping
behaviour over that period.
•  All numbers relating to expenditure and forecast expenditure of
gadgets are taken from Conlumino’s own retail model. This is updated
on an ongoing basis with inputs from oﬃcial sources (such as the BRC
and ONS), retailers’ results and trading updates, other secondary
sources and industry surveys, Conlumino’s ongoing programme of
research into consumer spending and habits, and underlying economic
drivers and trends. Conlumino analysts both model and interpret this
information to provide guidance on the likely future direction of retail
expenditure at an overall, sector and category level.
•  Unless otherwise stated, all sources of information are derived from
Conlumino’s own research and should be referenced to Webloyalty/
Conlumino.

Conlumino
020 7936 6654
hello@conlumino.com
7 Carmelite Street, London EC4Y 0BS
Webloyalty
020 7291 8720
enquiries@webloyalty.co.uk
19-21 Great Portland Street, London

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