CONSUMER PULSE
The national mood has declined this month; overall, purchase consideration across all major purchasing categories is up; and Christmas gifting, holiday gifting budget, in-person retail shopping and media consumption over summer is fuelling opinions and conversations.
Find out what’s hot and what’s not in this issue of Nine’s Consumer Pulse.
Consumer Pulse surveys over 2,000 national respondents spanning Nine’s TV, digital, print and talk radio audiences. The monthly survey canvasses the thoughts, purchasing intentions and mood of the nation, to better inform and educate marketers on how they can reach and engage Australian audiences.
Inside this month's Consumer Pulse dip: 3-6 November, 2023
Mood of the Nation
Purchase Considerations
Conversation Starters
Mood of the Nation
The national mood has declined this month with a rise in negative emotions and a drop in positive emotions. The rise in negative emotions comes with increased feelings of being overwhelmed as well as feelings of stress and anxiety being in the top 5 emotions this month.
This month has also seen significant drops for feelings of safety, optimism and hopefulness.
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Dominant mood indicators
The top 10 dominant moods are a mix of positive and negative emotions. Despite the higher net negative emotions, the top 3 are all positive, with calm, relaxed and hope topping the list this month. Feelings of being stressed and anxious rose to be the fourth and fifth most prominent emotions this month.
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Purchase Consideration
Clothing is the top purchase consideration for the month (24%) followed by gardening (23%), an international holiday (22%) and a domestic holiday (20%). Gardening saw the largest increase since August 2023 among the categories. Overall, purchase consideration across all major purchasing categories is up six percentage points from last quarter and up two percentage points on the same time last year.
Top 5 Major Purchase Consideration Categories - As of 6th November 2023
Clothing
Gardening, landscaping, plants
A holiday outside of Australia
A holiday in Australia
Health-related
Conversation Starters
There is a real opportunity for brands to tap into some of the themes fuelling opinions and conversations this month.
4 in 5 of Nine’s audience plan to purchase Christmas gifts in 2023
Christmas gift giving remains relatively stable with 2022, and 45-54-year-olds the most likely to purchase Christmas gifts (83%) while 18-34s are the least likely (62%).
Despite this, Nine’s audience under the age of 45 who are Christmas shopping plan to do it over a wide range of categories (5 on average). Gift cards and toys/games are bought consistently across all age groups, while under-45s see particular rises compared to the over-45s for apparel, shoes and accessories, chocolates, flowers, greetings and miscellaneous gifts, household products and consumer electronics.
Brand consideration
With consumers looking to spend across multiple categories, think of creative ways your brand can show up in different areas to share your product or service this holiday season.
2 in 5 of Nine’s audience plan to spend $1,000 plus on Christmas gifts in 2023
When it comes to total gift spend, 37% of Nine’s audience are planning to spend $1,000 or more on gifts while 31% plan to spend between $500-$999.
Overall, spending is highest among 55-64-year-olds followed by the 45-54 age group.
Brand consideration
With spending highest among 55-64-year-old's, there is real opportunity for brands to tailor their value proposition to this target demographic and maximise profits.
The majority of Christmas shopping will be done in person
Nearly half of Nine’s audience plan to do less than 25% of their Christmas shopping online, showing there is still an appetite for in-person retail shopping this holiday period.
The over-65 audience is the most likely to shop in person, with only 16% planning to do over half of their Christmas shopping online. On the opposite side, we can see people under the age of 45 leaning more heavily into online shopping with roughly half of the audience doing over 50% of their Christmas shopping online.
Brand consideration
If you are a brick-and-mortar store, you should implement in person deals and specials to entice online shoppers to do their Christmas shopping in person this holiday season.
Media consumption expected to stay high over the summer holiday period
Nine’s audience plan to consume plenty of media over the summer period, with the primary expected sources being free-to-air TV (81%), internet browsing (75%), TV streaming services (72%), radio (66%) and digital news sites (63%).
Social media peaks for the under-35s (72%) while music streaming is expected to be high among the 35-54s (58%).
Brand consideration
Your brand should utilise cross-platform seasonal marketing to tap into the expected increase in consumption of media this summer period. This will expose your brand to a larger audience, increasing your brand recognition and customer base.
Tell your story in and around the content we know consumers are engaging with most
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