Shopper Digest: Do all brands get impacted equally?

The boycott due to the Palestine-Israel conflict has increased significantly since October 2023. Shoppers have made active efforts to avoid purchasing brands that are not aligned with their views. As such, many assume that the boycotted brands would lose these shoppers and continue to decline. However, our tracking data shows that the impact of the boycotts is inconsistent, affecting some brands more than others.

Category X is dominated by both boycotted and non-boycotted brands. In the latest Raya 2024, the category grew by having a larger buyer base, mainly driven by Malay shoppers.

The main driver of this growth comes from the top two non-boycotted brands. Among the boycotted brands, Brands C, D, and H show a decline, while Brands E, F, I, and L do not seem to be impacted and have managed to grow. Thus, the hypothesis that all the brands on the boycott list will be significantly impacted is false.

When we look into the declining boycotted brands, specifically Brands C and D, they decline in different ways. Brand C declined mainly because shoppers dropped the brand, which affirms the hypothesis above. However, Brand D declined because shoppers reduced their purchases. For example, if shoppers previously purchased four units of the brand, post-boycott, they now purchase fewer, indicating that shoppers are still purchasing but buying less.

The impact of the boycott is unclear, and the hypothesis that all the brands would be heavily impacted is false, as some brands still managed to grow. Moreover, the way these brands decline also differs. Brand D’s buyer base remains intact, unlike Brand C. The next step for Brand D is to encourage their shoppers to increase their purchases again, while Brand C needs to focus on recovering their lapsed shoppers.

The boycott movement might differ among various groups of shoppers. Hence, it is important for us to identify whether these shoppers are within our consumer group and how they will impact us.

In Worldpanel, we track and provide demographic information that can help brands target consumers better based on their purchasing behaviours. With the boycott ongoing, it is critical for us to identify these shoppers and understand their purchase behaviours to diminish the impact and ensure brand growth.

Kantar Worldpanel can also help in understanding the drivers behind brand growth or decline through Source of Volume/Change (SOVC) analysis. The analysis helps in understanding the reasons behind the growth or decline of a brand and the dynamic interaction across brands, for example, shoppers switching from Brand D to Brand A. This knowledge might help in deterring brand decline, promoting growth, and developing tactical plans to steal from competitors.