The Case for Frequency

Growth on a micro scale comes from frequency

Frequency becomes more important when we analyse shopper behaviour at a micro level. Malaysian shoppers may be making fewer trips to buy FMCG, but most categories and brands are still managing to increase their purchase frequency.Our analysis found that the growth trajectory of 59.1% of categories and 65.8% of brands follow the same trend as frequency. This indicates that a solid majority depend on higher frequency to grow, because lower frequency could result in a decline.Also, unlike on the macro scale, most categories and brands grow their frequency regardless of overall performance. 60.9% of categories in our analysis grew frequency, as opposed to 47.8% that grew basket size, while 57.1% of brands grew frequency compared with 49.5% that grew basket size.