Survey reveals Irish consumers now shopping around for groceries
- 30% of grocery shoppers have changed grocery shopping behaviour since the start of the year
- 26% spreading their spend over different supermarkets
- Lidl and Aldi are main beneficiaries of the spend spreading to different stores
- 32% of groceries bought are the supermarkets' own brand items
- 26% buying cheaper versions of products
Dublin, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 - A survey commissioned by the National Consumer Agency and carried out by Amárach Research has found that almost a third of Irish consumers have changed their grocery shopping habits since the beginning of the year.
Just over a quarter of grocery shoppers are now spreading their spend over different supermarkets with 32% of them buying own brand products.
The survey finds that the main beneficiaries of spend spreading to other stores are discounters, Aldi and Lidl. Of those shoppers who have recently changed their shopping habits, 61% have begun shopping at Lidl while 54% have begun shopping in Aldi.
Ann Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of the National Consumer Agency, said: "We are delighted to hear that Irish consumers have started spreading their grocery spend across different stores.
"Our recent cross-border survey revealed greater competition in the own-brand market and we believe this to be due to the presence of discounters like Aldi and Lidl in the market, who are the main beneficiaries of those consumers who are now splitting their shopping basket.
"According to the survey, 3 out of 4 of all adults are aware of reports on grocery price comparisons with almost a quarter of grocery shoppers (23%) saying they have changed their shopping behaviour.
"An informed consumer is an empowered consumer and using the information from grocery price surveys, shoppers can drive competition in the grocery sector by spreading their spend."
Other key findings from the report include:
- Average grocery spend is €151 per week on the main grocery shop
- The main supermarkets used are Tesco, Dunnes and Supervalu
- The primary motivations of choosing one store over another are convenience (61%), price (31%) and quality (21%).
- The primary motivation to change shopping habits has been the cost of groceries (42%)
- Two thirds (65%) of those polled are mainly responsible for the household grocery shopping
Learn more
Download a presentation of the survey's main findings (PowerPoint, 892KB)
A version in Adobe Acrobat is also available (PDF, 926KB)