July 10, 2014 Industry news
Research from a shopping insight group has suggested that UK consumers are making more trips to supermarkets and online grocery stores, visiting a wider variety of them than they previously did.
Findings showed that more than a third of shoppers (38%) believe that they are now shopping at more stores than they used to, while more than two thirds (70%) have made changes to their shopping habits – whether this is a change to the stores they use or frequency with which they shop. Indeed, roughly one in 10 claimed they are shopping more often and at more stores.
Of those questioned, just over half (51%) said they had used a Tesco store in the previous month. This was some way ahead of the 39% recorded for both Sainsbury’s and Asda, while slightly more had used Aldi (34%) than Morrisons (33%).
Shoppercentric also assessed customer loyalty, discovering that those who describe themselves as ‘Co-op shoppers’ tend to shop at the fewest other stores – taking in an average of 4.4 stores per month to complete their grocery shopping. In contrast, those who favour Waitrose were found to use a 6.2 average.
The study was set up in an attempt to explain why, according to Shoppercentric founder and owner Danielle Pinnington, the market share of the convenience sector is not reflecting the number of shoppers believed to be using them in preference to major supermarkets. Meanwhile, the organisation’s director, Iona Carter, concludes that talk of fragmentation among grocery retailers may be exaggerated, since 74% of shoppers believe that using stores with which they are familiar will cut down shopping time.