• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 9, 2010

Think of them as robo-consumers: A new study from GfK Consumer titled "Future Buy" reports that a full 31% of the U.S. population now falls into a category it calls "the Xtreme Shopper," characterized by the amount of time they devote to finding the best deals on everything.

"It's not so much that these shoppers do anything that different than other consumers," Lew Paine, VP/Gfk Consumer, tells Marketing Daily, such as relying on Internet research, especially through mobile devices, using multiple retail channels, and checking product reviews. "It's just that this 31% do so much more of it. They are using many more touchpoints and more resources. They visit more Web sites, and are more likely to participate in online communities."

Another third of customers, he says, exhibit many of the same behaviors, but less frequently. And the remaining third -- a group he calls traditionalists -- tend to shop the way they always have.

"What surprised us most was that no matter how we sliced and diced the demographics, income did not seem to make a big difference -- these same three groups, in about the same proportion, showed up at each income level," he says, and while more affluent consumers were slightly more likely to fall into the "xtreme" category, the difference was not significant.

Age didn't make much difference either: "We found plenty of Xtreme Shoppers in their 70s," he says. Nor is it a sport limited to high-ticket purchases. In fact, he says, young moms, prowling the Web for groups to join and coupons for diapers and baby food, are one of the most active shopping groups.

Another shift, the study found, is that while finding the best deal is the ultimate goal of these hardcore hunters, they are redefining what they mean by value, and are highly motivated by what they see as assurances that the company they buy from will continue to support their products. "These are the consumers who take their $150 iPod back to the Apple store, to make sure they are learning to use all of its capabilities," he says.

The study, which looked at responses from 2,000 adults, reports that these new shoppers have created a different culture of consumerism, further upending the uneasy balance among retailers, marketers and end users. "They want to negotiate on price for everything," he says, "and in effect, that's what comparison shopping on the Web and using coupons does."

Part of this new ferocity has been fueled by the economy, which has made bargain-hunting more important. But the technology available to consumers is also key, and the study identified almost 30 shopper-initiated touchpoint categories across major venues such as online, in-store, word-of-mouth, mobile, direct mail, and TV.