At Spark Emotions, every month we understand how the UK is feeling through our Mood of the Nation study. Each month, we focus on different topics depending on what is important to the general public. For April, we spoke to over 1,000 people to understand their emotions and what plans they have for the month ahead.
The April paper brings you an understanding of what the general mood of the nation is in the United Kingdom; how the UK feels about Easter and Easter purchases, focusing on plans for the event with a view on sustainable Easter eggs.
The general mood of the nation
When we conducted our nationally representative survey in March there was a lot going on in the UK. The UK describes their feelings towards the month of April as ‘Happy’, ‘Excited’ but also ‘Worried’. The war in Ukraine and rising fuel prices are already influencing the mood of the UK.
For April this year, UK adults are reporting lower levels of happiness compared to last April and our response analysis showed 44% of our sample reported a positive emotion for April 2022 compared to 50% last year.
Our Spark Emotional Wheel is a bespoke tool that helps us quantify emotions. We have found the mood of the UK public has dropped compared to April last year. They are feeling ‘Attentive’ whereas last year UK adults felt ‘Delighted’. Scores of Excitement, Happiness and Control have all dropped compared to recent months and April last year. The conflict in Ukraine and the rise in fuel costs are likely to be affecting this.
Easter plans
More UK adults are celebrating Easter (73%) this year compared to last year (53%) and people are feeling significantly more excited about the event. Plans for Easter are centred around family and meal occasions with 1 in 3 planning a meal at home and 1 in 10 planning to go out to eat so we suggest brands should encourage meal inspiration by using attractive imagery and recipe ideas.
When we looked at Easter egg purchases we found that 60% of those who said they will not be celebrating Easter said they will still be buying Easter eggs. 4 in 5 of those buying eggs this Easter will be purchasing in-store and if they are buying for others, appearance is more important compared to if they are buying for themselves in which case size is more important.
The importance of sustainable Easter eggs
Focussing on sustainable egg purchases, we saw that although 61% of UK adults are willing to pay more for sustainable Easter eggs, 1 in 4 believe sustainability should be the standard and not a premium. Many think sustainability is important but don’t think it should come at a big cost to them.
What this means for you
Easter eggs are a huge part of Easter, even for those who are not celebrating, but with the HFSS placement rules coming into force this October, displaying Easter eggs on gondola ends won’t be possible next year. So, brands need to think of more creative ways to attract people to the category in-aisle.
We also know that the family meal is the main event for Easter and with the UK feeling the financial strain, it is important your brand is sympathetic to this and takes actions to support them to have the best Easter possible.
Understanding the external factors affecting your customers’ emotions, what they want, and how they want to buy is important as it helps you to tailor your product or service to help, in a genuine way. Taking these insights and putting them into simple actions can be one of the best ways to build affinity with your consumers.
How can we help
Spark Emotions gets to the real behaviours and emotions of shoppers and consumers. Our team of consumer psychologists design our research methodologies to remove bias and extract the truth. Coupled with our team of industry experts, we can help you put the insights into practice, helping you improve sales.
With the cost of living continuing to rise, competition to be purchased ahead of your rivals will only increase. If you want to understand how you can make sure you are the brand of choice, get in touch with us by filling in our contact form by clicking here or below.
To see the full April Mood of the Nation report, click the image below to download it
Written by Tara Moran, Research Executive at Spark Emotions.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Tara via email tara.moran@sparkemotions.com or connect on LinkedIn
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