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Hard-up Shoppers drawn to competitions

Simon Canning | April 13, 2009

PROMOTIONS and competitions are increasingly being used to entice customers to acquire products they would no longer pay for as household budgets tighten.

Research from interactive and mobile agency Be.interactive suggests a growing number of consumers are entering competitions in a bid to win non-essential items ranging from iPods to games consoles.

At the same time, Be.interactive managing director Lara Thom said more people from the traditionally promotion-resistant AB demographic were taking part in competitions.

“There has been a significant rise in response rates this year for daily prize giveaways that consumers can no longer afford,” Ms Thom said. “This includes luxury holidays, electronic equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and computers.”

Competitions “have always been popular, but we are seeing real growth in interest now”.

Ms Thom said the last spike in competitions was in 2004, when do-it-yourself and home renovation shows were popular.

“Back then whitegoods and home electronics were popular prizes and people would buy a can of paint to paint the house with a view to hopefully winning a prize.”

The research also revealed that companies were now pitching not just newly unaffordable luxury items, but even pragmatic prizes.

Ms Thom said competitions aimed at baby boomers and families were offering prizes such as cash, petrol and even debt repayment. Competitions aimed at seniors were often offering prizes that could be used as gifts to grandchildren.

“What is really interesting is the broader demographic that is entering competitions. It’s just not the young entering to win, but we are increasingly seeing the AB demographic entering now,” she said. “Money is just not available the way it was.”

Companies were also using competitions and promotions to build valuable databases, she said.

While companies were targeting different demographics through different mediums such as SMS entry, online, email and even the traditional but increasingly less popular clip and post method, they were also working to make competitions more interactive by getting people to visit competition websites multiple times.

Consumers were demanding instant gratification from competitions.

“Some 50 per cent of the campaigns Be.interactive has online at the moment are instant win,” she said.