Retail promotions and deals have made up 27.2% of all supermarket sales over the past month as retailers and brands look to entice customers instore.
The latest Kantar supermarket data – which runs for the four-week period to 29 October 2023 – shows that the proportion of sales made through money-saving promotions, price cuts and deals is up across every grocer when compared to last year. This has only happened once in the past ten years.
Earlier this year, the IPA Bellwether report revealed that sales promotion was the top performing category for H1 2023 as companies dedicated resources to helping customers facing squeezed household budgets and high levels of inflation.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said “Retailers continue to look at ways of softening the blow for shoppers and slowing the rate of price rises.
“This has included upping the ante on promotions – every single one of the grocers increased the proportion of sales through deals versus last year which is something that has only happened on one other occasion in nearly ten years.”
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“Consumer spending on promotions has now hit 27.2% of total grocery sales – the highest level we’ve seen since Christmas last year. This is a big gear shift from October 2022 when this figure was less than a quarter.”
Kantar’s data also revealed that grocery price inflation has fallen below 10% for the first time since July 2022.
McKevitt describes the drop to 9.7% as “positive news and something of a watershed”, while warning that consumers will “still be feeling the pinch”.
Shoppers looking to keep their spending down have also been taking matters into their own hands by trading down to non-branded lines, with sales of own-label lines outpacing their branded equivalents every month since February 2022.
McKevitt also predicts that the fight for Christmas spend looks set to be fierce between the retailers this year, pointing out that 54% of Aldi and Lidl’s sales now come from the more affluent ‘ABC1’ social group.
“When it comes to where people shop, Brits definitely aren’t loyal and some of the traditional shopping demographics and stereotypes have been thrown out of the window.”
