Shoppers to spend £19 billion on food and drink this Christmas
Shoppers will spend £19 billion on food and drink during this year's festive season according to new research. This represents a 3.9% increase on last year, when shoppers spent £18.3 billion on their Christmas groceries.
The IGD Shopper Vista research has also revealed that people will be willing to devote more of their time this Christmas to getting the best deals with six out of ten shoppers polled saying they plan to shop around more compared to last year. In addition, four in ten respondents said they intend to do more shopping around to find the best quality products.
Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive, IGD, said: “While people remain cautious, the trickle of recent positive economic news is helping to improve confidence. Seven out of ten (72% of) shoppers plan to spend more or about the same on their groceries this Christmas compared to last year. This is up from 64% who said the same in 2011.
“Many retailers have been investing heavily throughout the year to improve the shopping experience and encourage more people to visit their stores. We’ve seen more imaginative merchandising, greater use of fresh food counters and an increase in ‘click and collect’ services which can help time-pressed festive shoppers to order their groceries online and collect at a time convenient to them.”
The study found that 38% of shoppers said they will use discount supermarkets more this festive period compared to last year – including over a third of AB shoppers. Families with children under five expressed the most enthusiasm for using discounters with 53% saying they would definitely shop in discount stores.
The research also revealed that 68% of people polled who currently shop at discounters said they will visit the stores even if their personal finances improve.
Denney-Finch added: “Good discounters in particular look to benefit this Christmas from our increased promiscuity towards grocery shopping. They’ve also become more appealing to shoppers through effectively communicating their quality and value for money.
“While growing at a phenomenal rate, discounters will still only account for 9% of the total UK food and grocery market in five years. So superstores and hypermarkets will still be where most money is spent.”
