Consumer price concerns have plateaued although the importance of deals and shopping around remains high, Dentsu reports. Looking across the supermarkets, people most often claim to do their supermarket shop in Tesco, Dunnes Stores or Lidl. However, due to the relative price of products, it is evident from Kantar’s data that Dunnes, Tesco and SuperValu were the top three in terms of market share based on the basket price of shoppers.
Dentsu’s Pulse report covers interviews with 1,000 Irish adults.
Despite overall price sensitivities and a desire for deals, there is a difference in products which people will buy private label. Most shoppers usually buy supermarket own brand for dry goods such as rice or pasta (78 per cent) and fruit (76 per cent), while three in four people said they would not buy supermarket own brand tea or coffee regardless of the price. The Pulse report says consumers’ economic outlook has improved since May 2023.
Far more shoppers are loyal to branded goods, even where the price is higher.
A preference for branded tea and coffee has jumped from 51 per cent to 74 per cent; alcohol from 45 to 67 per cent and chocolate from 43 to 61 per cent year-on-year. There is one factor which also might influence the preference for brands – many consumers remain more aware of private labels with supermarket branding while private labels such as Lacura (Aldi’s cosmetic brand) or Colin the Caterpillar (M&S confectionery brand) were not necessarily seen as supermarkets brands.
What does this mean?
A huge number of shoppers have moved their grocery purchases to supermarket own brand or ‘private label’, with 99 per cent of shoppers choosing private label for at least part of their grocery shop. Dentsu’s research director Claire O’Rourke says that despite many people saying they shop private label, there is some misunderstanding as to what constitutes own label in store, with consumers expecting the supermarket name on the product.
Across the private label offerings, the agency’s study detected most resistance to own brand in tea/coffee, chocolate, alcohol and toiletries with a substantial number of consumers not likely to buy own brand even if it’s cheaper. Consumers are feeling less price sensitive than a year ago, as the study found that the proportion that were unlikely to buy own brand for tea/coffee, chocolate, alcohol and toiletries was significantly lower in May of last year.