Why New Zealanders go 'crazy' for supermarket promotions every year

Sunday, 21 November 2021

Spending money to earn a freebie at the checkout is once again taking over New Zealand supermarkets.

But why does the nation have such a love affair with a supermarket promotion?

“I think there are likely multiple reasons for this – firstly, everyone loves feeling as though we get something extra as a reward,” senior clinical psychologist and senior lecturer at Massey University, Kirsty Ross, said.

“Supermarkets have done a very good job of looking at what interests consumers and gets them excited and interested in shopping at their store, to get the reward that they desire.”

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Earlier in the month, Countdown launched collectible bricks, where for every $30 spent, customers earn one pack of the Lego-inspired toys.

Aimed at children, they can be used to build an environmentally-friendly supermarket, complete with aisles of shopping, electric delivery trucks and solar panels.

But New World struck back, announcing shoppers can collect a range of KitchenAid ovenware by earning one sticker for every $20 spent in-store or online.

The promotion comes of the back of its successful Smeg Knives promotion, where customers collected one sticker for every $20 spent to redeem for a range of six knives and a knife block.

“Our customers overwhelmingly tell us they look forward to and enjoy our promotions and I think there’s a few factors that means this year’s KitchenAid promotion has the potential to be New World’s most successful to date,” Pippa Prain, head of marketing and customer experience for New World said.

The response to the KitchenAid promotion had already been “phenomenal', Prain said.

And although there are 900,000 of the collectable pieces already in the country, Prain’s advice is to redeem stickers as soon as you have the right number, to avoid missing out.

“Within the first two days of this promotion redemptions across the country are already a staggering 300 per cent higher, compared to the Smeg knife promotion in the same period last year.”

The Commerce Commission received two complaints about the Smeg promotion, with customers claiming they felt misled and not adequately informed some promotional products were no longer available before they started their shop.

“By their own admission our promotions can make our customers go a little crazy, so there’s a lot of excitement and also a tiny bit of trepidation about the promotion,” Prain said.

Foodstuffs, which owns New World, would work to better inform customers about stock levels and every participating store would have prominent displays at the front of stores to show what they had in stock, what might be temporarily out of stock and what was out of stock.

Stores would also have stock levels on their own Facebook pages to help customers avoid disappointment.

“But, first and foremost we want shoppers to remember that like them, our teams have had a really hard year, so please be kind and remember to shop safely.”

Ross said running the promotions around Christmas added to the a feeling of being able to gain something without it appearing to cost anything extra.

“These rewards are designed to entice people to shop at a particular store, and to attract them to spend their money there.

“Once people start collecting particular rewards, they are more likely to keep returning to that store to ensure they do achieve getting a reward, rather than spreading their spending dollar based on convenience, as we often do for the rest of the year,' she said.

“Supermarket shopping can feel like a chore for many people, and this adds a layer of excitement and something additional that is interesting to a task many people find to be mundane.”