Impulse purchasing is on the decline as 54% of Brits are imposing limits on how much they spend at the supermarket during the cost-of-living crisis.
According to grocery retail app, Ubamarket’s latest Retail Trends Report, consumers are prioritising purchasing only essential grocery items and 60% of Brits have spread their weekly food shop across multiple retailers to keep expenditure down.
While 55% don’t think supermarkets are doing enough to help consumers alleviate food price inflation, Ubamarket CEO Will Broome said, “It’s no surprise that consumers are feeling let down by the grocery sector.”
“With prices still rising, Brits are facing a tough Christmas ahead, and many will be managing their budgets more closely than at the start of the cost-of-living crisis.”
Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning
A further 64% don’t think supermarket price matching and on-shelf offers go far enough and 53% said that loyalty points schemes no longer help with cutting the cost of a weekly food shop.
Broome added: “Supermarket chains and suppliers rely on narrow profit margins, and while most of the retail sector have felt the effects of the rising rate of inflation, consumer goods and foods have felt a much stronger impact.
“Suppliers will typically request small price increases, now we see suppliers requesting up to 10% increments to fight inflation, which is directly passed on to the consumer – at the end of the day it becomes a tug-of-war on profits and the burden lies with the consumer.”
This comes as food price inflation has hit a new peak of 12.4% in the run-up to Christmas, as a result of the soaring price of basics such as meat, eggs, dairy and coffee.
