Inflation affects consumer buying: survey

The survey was conducted online Feb.12-14 by Ding Ding Integrated Marketing Service Co. (DDIM) — an associate company under the Far Eastern Group and the issuer of the Happy Go bonus-point shopping cards — among 11,459 cardholders.

The survey reveals that 95 percent of respondents have obviously felt a rise in consumer prices or a decrease in the volume of the products they bought, and 82 percent of these respondents said the situation has changed their attitude toward buying daily necessities.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents now make hypermarkets their priority choice when shopping for daily necessities, compared with 22 percent who prefer to shop at convenience stores, 13 percent who favor supermarkets and 8 percent who prefer to buy at traditional markets.

The results show that 75 percent of the respondents spend most of their earnings on daily necessities besides food and transportation, and that 60 percent of respondents will try to save some of their earnings for financial investment.

Cash remains the prize that the largest number of respondents — 83 percent — wish to win in a lucky draw, and the percentage far exceeds those preferring a free tour around the world or video/audio home appliances, according to the results.

On the personal data of the respondents, 64 percent of them were men and 36 percent were women, with those aged 25 and under accounting for 17 percent, those aged 26-30 accounting for 26 percent, those aged 31-35 accounting for 24 percent, those aged 36-40 accounting for 15 percent, those aged 41-45 accounting for 9 percent, and those aged 46-50 accounting for 9 percent.

Having attracted 4.5 million members since its launch in 2005, the Happy Go card is now accepted at more than 5,000 stores covering more than 700 brands, including department stores and retail stores owned by the Far Eastern Group and other contracted stores, according to DDIM officials.

Spending by Happy Go cardholders totaled more than NT$12 billion in 2007, with each holder spending NT$25,000 per year and NT$1,500 per transaction on average, company officials said.

A total of 1.3 billion bonus points were awarded to holders in 2007, with 60 percent of the points having been exchanged, they said.

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