Each month we use our amazing platform and insight team to take a deep-dive into a different industry to understand current trends and what’s driving consumer behaviour. This month it’s Retail. Register to download the full PDF below and keep up to date on our content, including more industry insights, downloadable ebooks and reports, webinars & more…
With the Consumer Price Index at its highest level since 2006, driven by rising utility bills, cost of fuel and grocery prices, we asked Brits how this has affected their spending on grocery, what actions they have taken and what they expect supermarkets to do to help.
Brits are already feeling the pinch with over 55s most likely to be spending more on their shopping…
“Inflation is pushing the cost of groceries up regularly and then fuel for delivery of groceries is so expensive too.” – Female, 55-64
Brits blame price increases on a perfect storm of macro-economic factors such as the war in Ukraine, Brexit, energy and fuel prices going up and inflation.
“Price of fuel for transport costs. Rising costs of food production e.g. fertilisers. Food supplies from Ukraine disrupted by war e.g. sunflower oil and wheat. Heating and food preparation costs rising because gas supply from Russia is being reduced in retaliation for imposition of sanctions. Suppliers cannot absorb increased costs so pass them on to customers.” – Female, 65+
“Rising fuel costs dramatically change the price of carrying the items to the supermarket. I know people forget about how items make it on to the shop floor. Plus, the mix of Brexit restricting imports and costs of tax on top of certain items.” – Female, 35-44
To combat price rises, Brits are primarily cutting down on treats, sticking to shopping lists, trading down from branded to own label and shopping at discounters.
35–44s are most likely to have struggled, with 27% cutting back on other spending to afford groceries. One in ten (13%) have gone without meals to save money.
Consumers want supermarkets to focus on essential groceries, by making them cheaper…
Rewarding customers for their loyalty by reducing the cost of their shop (54%) is also a popular request.
Retailers need to be more transparent with their pricing to reassure some consumers that they are keeping prices low to help grocery budgets go further.
“Some price increases are inevitable as manufacturers have been steadily reducing sizes of products for years while keeping packaging the same size, they’re not fooling anyone. I no longer do 1 big shop lots of smaller ones stocking up with the cheaper items at each different shop. I am much more aware of what things cost and I will switch shops if I think a shop is profiteering.” – Male, 66+
Brits broadly understand what is causing the rise in grocery prices and most are using a variety of strategies to make their grocery budget go further. There is an opportunity for retailers to help them with their shopping lists (e.g. recipe cards for quick and affordable meals in store) and increasing the range of essential products in deals or offers.
Ramping up reward schemes would show shoppers that retailers care about their customers by giving something back in a time of need.
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