Filipinos are leading shoppers in Southeast Asia - Nielsen survey

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos are the leading shoppers in Southeast Asia, a survey by Nielsen released yesterday showed, as 80 percent of those surveyed said they enjoy shopping.

Philippine consumers take the most pleasure from grocery shopping compared to their counterparts in the other Southeast Asian countries, according to Nielsen’s latest Philippine Shopper Trends Report 2011.

Consumers in Thailand ranked second, with 66 percent admitting they enjoy/like grocery shopping.

“This finding is unique to consumers in the country. With 85 percent of the Philippine population falling into the lower-income bracket, grocery shopping continues to be a way for some consumers to entertain themselves and spend time with their families at the same time. Most consumers take this must-do activity in stride and even derive enjoyment from this activity which may be seen by many consumers in other countries as a chore,” said Marge Martinez, Nielsen’s associate director for retailer services in the Philippines, said.

The study likewise said while females remain the dominant main shopper in Filipino households (67 percent), there is an emergence of more male shoppers when it comes to grocery shopping.

Nielsen’s analysis revealed that the percentage of male main shoppers tripled from 2006 to 33 percent at the end of 2010. This relatively high percentage also placed Filipino males as the second most likely to be the main mail grocery shopper for their households, in the Southeast Asia region, trailing just three percentage points after Malaysia’s 36 percent.

The Nielsen official explained that the growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the past three years in the Philippines has driven women to take more of a proactive role in seeking employment and landing a job.

“We see more men and women sharing household responsibilities from bringing food to the table to taking care of the children to doing errands for the household needs,” said Martinez.

The Philippines’ retail trade continues to grow as consumers’ monthly spending on food, grocery and personal care increased 19 percent in 2010 compared to 2009.

Most consumers are still spending their money mostly at supermarkets, with one-third of consumers shopping shopping in the outlets in this in 2010. Another 28 percent of consumers spend most in sari-sari stores and 25 percent of shoppers spend their money most at wet markets.

The Nielsen executive theorized that Philippine consumers are trying to find ways to be smart spenders by changing their place of shopping to channels such as sari-sari stores and wet markets that may offer lower prices.

“As consumers continue to seek more value to stretch their pesos, supermarkets and other modern trade channels will increasingly need to become even more creative in their offering to cater to and attract the value-conscious consumers,” Martinez added.

On the average, Filipino shoppers take two trips a month. Thirty percent of consumers in the Philippines do their main shopping once a week, another one-third does it once every fortnight, and 25 percent does it once a month.