News: Kantar at TMRS Annual Meeting 2022

Piradej Boonyavanit, Analytics Lead (Thailand) at Kantar Worldpanel, was one of the key speakers and shared interesting insights and findings from the research division's studies on consumer behavior and impact of inflation at "TMRS Annual Meeting 2022." The topic of the talk was “How are Thai consumers reacting to Rising Prices and Smaller Wallets?” 

Kantar Worldpanel recognizes that inflation and rising prices are some of the hottest and most discussed topics this year apart from the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the key reasons is because it is something that impacts not only businesses, but every consumer at an individual level. Thai consumers must cope and struggle not only with rising prices, but also with worse financial situation and lower spending power.

In this sharing, Kantar Worldpanel explores how consumers respond to rising prices and smaller wallets. To prove that shoppers have smaller wallets, Kantar Worldpanel shared results from a study that 59% of Thai consumers felt and perceived that their financial was worse than the previous year, while 13% stated that it was extremely worse. Surprising insights on how consumers responded included the simultaneous growth of  ‘larger and smaller’ stores. Large format big-value pack stores and small proximity stores with affordable trial sizes grew at the expense of mid-sized outlets this year, while overall number of grocery trips per year is at an alarming all-time low since 2014. (It was 211 trips per household back in 2014, but now it’s down to just 156!)

Taking a deep-dive into inflation, Kantar Worldpanel also quantified the impact of inflation in Thailand across over 100 FMCG categories tracked in their panel, with cooking oils having the highest impact at 31%. This is a global initiative that was done across regions by Kantar Worldpanel’s Analytics teams, so the division was able to compare the level of severity across countries, sharing that Thailand’s inflation is relatively milder than most western nations. Other categories that suffer the most in Thailand include Soy Bean Sauce, Liquid Detergent, Mouthwash, Canned Fish, and last but not least, Infant Formula, which is bad news for Thai mothers. Brands and manufacturers in these categories run the risk of shoppers cutting back or substituting/trading down to a cheaper alternative. The challenge for brands now is how to navigate the market and remain relevant to consumers while combating the threat of increased costs that make rising prices inevitable.

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