Countdown 'will be hoping to shift shoppers' with latest collectibles offer

Wednesday, 11 September 2019

A class from Matamata Intermediate have planted their New World Little Gardens seedlings in the Matamata Community Garden, to help support those in need.

Countdown can expect to get a greater share of the grocery market during its latest giveaway promotion – and will be banking on some shoppers making a long-term change, one marketing expert says.

The supermarket chain has launched Disney Words at stores nationwide, a word play partnership with The Walt Disney Company.

It follows earlier collectibles giveaways of Movie Stars Collectors Cards and dominoes.

Competitor New World has run its own campaigns, including Little Shop and new Little Garden.

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Bodo Lang, head of marketing at the University of Auckland's Business School said there was typically a market share shift of 1 per cent during such promotions.

'That sounds like nothing to you and me but usually people are very loyal to the shop closest to them.'

A temporary promotion could push them to try a different shop and Countdown would hope that some would make the change permanently, he said.

Countdown Disney Word collectables, are aimed at making literacy fun, says Corporate Affairs, Safety and Sustainability Kiri Hanifin.

Lang said it would only appeal to shoppers with grandchildren and children but those kids would have 'pester power' to get their parents to shop at Countdown.

Disney would also benefit because it would promote interest in its movie merchandise, he said.

Countdown domino collectables sparked pushing, swearing and theft reports in Dunedin IN 2015.

'Word games have long been popular and we hope this will inspire Kiwi families to play together and have fun, but also learn a little at the same time. The tiles are designed to make it a fun and interactive way to teach children literacy skills, such as learning the alphabet, spelling and letter recognition,' said Kiri Hannifin, Countdown's head of corporate affairs, safety and sustainability.

Mother and blogger Maria Foy embraces collectables as fun learning experiences for her kids.

Customers will be able to collect a tile with every $30 they spend in store or online, while stocks last. Each tile is wrapped in paper and made out of tin-plated steel, all of which can be recycled at kerbside. The tiles feature a letter on one side and a Disney character on the other. The collection includes the alphabet, punctuation marks and other symbols.

Previous promotions have amassed significant followings.

Countdown Disney World collectables feature letters of the alphabet and Disney or Pixar characters on the flip side.

Trade Me spokeswoman Millie Silvester said that after New World launched Little Garden in 2017, there were over 18,500 searches for the seedlings in two weeks. Numbers will typically surge like this each time a collectible range is released.

'In 2016, one member sold the full Little Garden set for $210 on Trade Me,' she said

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said the promotions were successful because they broke the 'tedium' of grocery shopping.

Mother and blogger Maria Foy said she embraced collectibles as 'a really nice treat', despite the fact they incentivised shopping at a particular supermarket.

'Everything my kids comes into contact with is a learning experience, and it's even better that it's something fun,' she said.

The promotion will run until October 28.