We analyse the interaction of price, quality, health and brand as drivers of item choice. We examine how the importance of these factors varies depending on the channel. This report outlines what “best price” actually means to shoppers and we look at what shoppers look for when looking for quality. We also look at what shoppers look to when deciding if a product is healthy or not. We used nine proxy categories to help understand how and what shoppers’ trade-off depending on what category they are considering.

1. Decision Making 2013:
Price vs. Quality vs. Health vs. Brand
Evolution Insights Ltd
Prospect House
32 Sovereign Street
Leeds
LS1 4BJ
Tel: 0113 389 1038
http://www.evolution-insights.com
No part of this sample can be extracted and used
elsewhere without written permission
No part of this sample can be extracted and used elsewhere without written permission

2. • Evolution offer a range of products & services for
clients in the field of shopper research:-
• Off-the-shelf research
– Evolution’s off the shelf research
publications deliver affordable insight
into shopper motivation and
behaviours in UK food, drink and
grocery
• Insight Plus
– Insight Plus offers your business the
opportunity to engage in any of our
regular shopper research projects in
advance of publication, tailoring the
scope to suit your needs
• Bespoke Consulting
– As publishers of research, we are able
to draw upon a wealth of existing
proprietary data for consulting projects
– helping to better inform and shape
any further research requirements.
Evolution is a leading research consultancy specialising in shopper motivation and behaviour. We deliver off-the-shelf, tailored and bespoke
research for manufacturers, retailers and agencies.
Further information is available at our
website http://www.evolution-
insights.com
Visit and sign up for our free monthly
Shopper Trend Report.
About Evolution Insights
As a leading publisher of shopper
research, we are ideally placed to
offer your business actionable
shopper insight.
Our research and analysis helps
clients develop targeted shopper
marketing initiatives designed to
influence shoppers at the point of
purchase.
We use a range of research
methodologies to discover genuine
insights. Our research incorporates
a broad spectrum of robust
qualitative and quantitative
research techniques.
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elsewhere without written permission

3. Contents
Figures and Graphs 5 Price vs. Health 33
Introduction 34
Key findings and executive summary 7 Channels 35
What this report will do for you 8 Summary 36
Price, Quality, Health and Brand 9
Price vs. Quality vs. Health v. Brand 10 Price vs. Brand 37
Channels 11 Introduction 38
Categories 12 Channels 39
Summary 40
Decision Making: Introduction 13
Decision making process 14 Health vs. Taste/Quality 41
Price, Quality, Health and Brand 15 Introduction 42
Channels 43
Price: Introduction 16 Summary 44
What does ‘best price’ mean to shoppers 18
Summary 19 Brand vs. Quality 45
Introduction 46
Quality: Introduction 20 Channels 47
How shoppers decide what is good quality 22 Summary 48
Summary 23
Brand vs. Health 49
Health: Introduction 24 Introduction 50
What shoppers use to decide if a product is healthy or not 27 Channels 51
Summary 28 Summary 52
Price vs. Quality 29 Channels 53
Introduction 30 Introduction 54
Channels 31 Supermarket 55
Summary 32 Convenience store 56
Online 57
Summary 59
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elsewhere without written permission

4. Contents
Categories 60
Introduction 61
Price 63
Quality 64
Health 65
Brand 66
Cheese 67
Cereal 68
Wine 69
Chocolate biscuits 70
Bread 71
Yoghurt 72
Toilet paper 73
Pet food 74
Laundry detergent 75
Summary 76
Methodology 77
Glossary 80
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elsewhere without written permission

5. Figures and graphs
14 Figure Decision making process
18 Graph What does ‘best price’ mean to shoppers
22 Graph How do shoppers decide what is good quality
27 Graph What shoppers use to decide if a product is healthy or not
31 Graph Price vs. Quality – Channels
35 Graph Price vs. Health – Channels
39 Graph Price vs. Brand - Channels
43 Graph Health vs. Taste/Quality – Channels
47 Graph Brand vs. Quality – Channels
51 Graph Brand vs. Health – Channels
55 Graph Channel – Supermarket
56 Graph Channel – Convenience Store
57 Graph Channel – Online
58 Graph Channel – Summary
63 Graph Categories – Price
64 Graph Categories – Quality
65 Graph Categories – Health
66 Graph Categories – Brand
67 Graph Cheese
68 Graph Cereal
69 Graph Wine
70 Graph Chocolate biscuits
71 Graph Bread
72 Graph Yoghurt
73 Graph Toilet paper
74 Graph Pet food
75 Graph Laundry detergent
Page
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elsewhere without written permission

6. ATL Stimulus
Pre-Shop
Information
Search
Evaluation
at Point of
Purchase
Decision
Post-
Purchase
Evaluation
Decision Making: Introduction – Decision making process
The decision making process is a cycle.
At each point the shopper can be
influenced by any number of factors,
including brand, quality, health and
price.
The process a shopper goes through
once they have received a stimulus to
their final purchase decision is known
as the path to purchase.
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elsewhere without written permission

7. Decision Making: Introduction – Price, Quality, Health and Brand
When a shopper is confronted by a number of products they have to make a decision based on a
number of different criteria which they will choose on that particular occasion. In the main (and
in the interests of simplicity) we can categorise these as Price, Quality, Health and Brand. As
such, a shoppers decisions are a function of price, quality, health and brand.
Every shopper will weight each of these criteria differently depending on their circumstances,
demographics, income, what mission they’re on, what channel they’re using, time of day,
transport etc. To add to this complexity, every category will have characteristics that are viewed
in different ways by the same person. In this report we try to simplify this very complex process.
fPrice, Quality, Health, Brand
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elsewhere without written permission

8. Price: Introduction – Summary
Best price does not simply mean the cheapest available. In fact, this is the least
popular definition of best price amongst primary shoppers. Instead the most
common definition of ‘best price’ is the best value per unit as shoppers use the
unit price to decide what is the best price for them. Promotions don’t necessarily
lead to the best price for shoppers even if the brands they usually buy are on
offer. However, brand does appear to be important for at least a quarter of
shoppers who look for the cheapest of the brands they usually buy or feel that the
brand with the biggest saving gives the best price. For these shoppers, finding
one of their favoured brands at a cheaper price is seen as excellent value.
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elsewhere without written permission

9. Price vs. Quality – Introduction
Although many shoppers are facing tough financial
times, we found that 62% of shoppers are willing to pay
more for food that is better quality. Understandably
this is most likely among shoppers who have a
household income of over £25,000 so are able to spend
more on food and groceries.
The relationship between price and
quality is what leads to a shoppers
perception of value. As the quality of
an item increases these shoppers are
willing to spend more as they feel they
are still receiving good value.
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elsewhere without written permission

10. Price vs. Brand – Channels
90
92
94
96
98
100
102
104
106
108
110
90 95 100 105 110
Price less important Price more important
Brandmoreimportant
Brandlessimportant
Supermarket
Convenience
Online
Price and brand both over index when
shopping online whereas they both under
index for convenience stores. Brand is less
important than price when shopping in a
supermarket.
We asked 1000 primary shoppers to rate the
importance of price and health when shopping
across different channels. These ratings are then
indexed against the average rating across
channels. An index of 100 means the factor is as
important for that channel as it is for all channels
on average. An index over 100 means that it is
more important.
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elsewhere without written permission

11. Methodology
11No part of this sample can be extracted and used
elsewhere without written permission

12. Secondary and
desk research
Preliminary
quantitative survey
Main quantitative
surveyInsights
• Evolution carried out a preliminary survey of
around 100 shoppers to test questions for the
main survey.
• Detailed secondary and desk research is
conducted to define the topic area, macro drivers
and trends, scope and examples within the
research topic.
• Initial insights gained are used to help further
design the main survey.
• A main survey was then completed by a further
1,102 UK adults who are the primary household
shopper for food & grocery.
• Comprehensive and detailed assessment of all the
data received was then used to uncover insights.
• Throughout this process, primary research was
supported by secondary research drawing on
Evolution’s proprietary databases, national
statistics, news and industry resources.
Methodology
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elsewhere without written permission
Evolution’s methodology

13. Methodology: quantitative research - survey
No part of this sample can be extracted and used
elsewhere without written permission
Importance of drivers across categories
Importance of drivers across channels
Attitudes towards price, health, quality and brand
Definition of quality
Definition of health
Definition of ‘Best price’
Demographic profiling
Topics of questions in quantitative survey
• Detailed shopper insights were
gained from a survey of 1,202
primary shoppers. The samples
were fully representative of the UK
population.
• The survey contained 16 questions
relating to topics outlined to the
left – in addition to standard
demographic profiling questions
• The questions were designed to
give maximum insight into
shopper’s motivation and
behaviour
• The survey was carried out during
the week commencing 4th February

14. This presentation is a Sample
Extract. Full Report 82 Pages.
For Details on the full report please
contact dale.henry@evolution-
insights.com
Evolution Insights Ltd
Prospect House
32 Sovereign Street
Leeds
LS1 4BJ
Tel: 0113 389 1038
http://www.evolution-insights.com
Evolution Insights: Shopper Insight Series
SAMPLE EXTRACT

15. Disclaimer
No part of this sample can be extracted and used
elsewhere without written permission
Please note
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written consent of Evolution
Insights Ltd.
The content of this report is based on information
gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary
sources and is believed to be correct at the time of
publication.
© Evolution Insights Ltd 2013

16. Contact us
Evolution Insights Ltd
Prospect House
32 Sovereign Street
Leeds
LS1 4BJ
Telephone: 0113 336 6000
e-mail: craig.bradley@evolution-insights.com
Web: http://www.evolution-insights.com
Company No. 07006001
Country of Incorporation: United Kingdom
No part of this sample can be extracted and used
elsewhere without written permission