AUSTRALIA | Australians are scaling back on their QSR orders, as a new survey unveiled spending habits that are swaying the sector.
A Boston Consulting Group survey of 2,000 Australian QSR consumers found that inflation accounts for most of the category's growth, meaning real gains now come almost entirely from taking share from competitors.
Over the past three years, Australia's QSR market has grown about five percent per year. Strip out price and mix, and the category is roughly flat in volume.
“If the pie isn't getting bigger, any growth is share taken from someone else,” the report outlined.
A handful of QSR operators are already taking this approach. The rest are propping up their topline with price increases and hoping the consumer comes back.
Our survey of 2,000 Australian QSR consumers makes it clear that the macro conditions sustaining the limited levels of growth in the sector are deteriorating. This article lays out what’s driving this, and other changes in the QSR category, and the trends shaping the next 12+ months in QSR. We examine six strategic imperatives operators could undertake to win share from competitors, and why these activities would set them apart from the field.
A net six percentage points (pp) more Australians said they had reduced their QSR spend over the past six months, compared to those who said they had increased it. When asked about their QSR spending plans for the next six months, that gap widens to net 9pp. Fifty-one percent of Baby Boomers cut back; only 14 percent increased spend, a net balance of -37pp for that cohort alone.
Lower-income households (< AUD 75,000 annual income) show a -22pp recent net balance, widening to -28pp when thinking about spending in the next six months. Even middle-income households (AUD 75-200,000) are increasingly cautious. When asked why they are spending less, Australians pointed to higher prices (70 percent), desire to build savings (49 percent), and shrinking savings (49 percent). These are not indicative of the same problem, capturing the impacts of both precautionary saving and economic distress.
Seventy-six percent of those reducing QSR spend are cooking at home more. Thirty-five percent are reframing QSR as a special occasion. Sixteen percent are skipping meals or snacks entirely. However, the tactics used to cut back on QSR spending differs across generational cohorts. Baby Boomers don't hunt deals; they simply visit less often. Only 35 percent seek promotions when cutting back, versus around 45 percent across younger cohorts. Gen Z splits dishes at twice the rate of any other cohort, indicating a structural shift toward shareable, social ordering. Value menus work across all income brackets, with high-income consumers over-indexing slightly on value menu usage.
The consumer who is cutting back on QSR spending, and who your brand is losing, is probably not the same consumer your competitor is losing. A blanket response across cohorts will miss capturing the cohorts you most need to win.
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