‘Brits to remain sensitive towards promotion in grocery’

Increasing numbers of consumers in the UK are limiting their grocery spending exclusively to goods on promotion to make their squeezed budgets go further, a new research has suggested.

According to a shopper survey by electronic shelf label provider Pricer, 27 per cent only buy items that are on offer – a 6 percentage points increase compared to 2023. The firm said that this shows despite inflation starting to ease, pricing and promotions sensitivity continues to remain high among consumers.

Younger demographics were found to be more likely to exclusively buy items on promotion, with Millennials saying that 47 per cent of all the food they buy is on offer, while 37 per cent of Gen Z’s shopping baskets consist of promotional or marked-down produce.

“While inflation is starting to ease, it will take a little while for that ripple effect to make its way into consumers’ shopping behaviours, so we expect customers to remain sensitive to pricing and promotions for some time to come,” commented Peter Ward, UK Country Manager at Pricer.

“Whether it is via promotions accuracy, on-shelf availability and replenishment of items of offer, fast roll-out on markdowns for near expiring goods or simply alerting customers to the offers available at the shelf edge, shoppers are expecting the retailers they shop with to make it as easy as possible for them to get the best deals.”

The report adds that 41 per cent of the consumers polled said they have shifted the times they visit supermarkets and food stores, opting to shop towards the end of the day when markdowns on products usually take place – an increase of 2 percentage points year-on-year.

Meanwhile, 66 per cent revealed they now shop across a greater number of supermarkets to get the best prices, rising to 74 per cent of Gen Z.