Weekly shop under threat
Changing lifestyles hit buying habits, says Datamonitor
July 19 2002
Hectic lifestyles are having a major effect on the way grocery shopping across Europe is conducted.
Consumers are making less accurate assessments of what they need when they make their regular weekly or fortnightly trip to the supermarket, according to a new report, Convenience Consumers, from market analyst Datamonitor.
Consumers are increasingly making grocery purchases for immediate, or at least very short-term, consumption. A major reason for the change is that people’s schedules are changing at short notice, so there is often too much, too little, or the wrong sort of food and drink in the fridge.
Datamonitor points to the clear benefits to convenience stores as consumers make more frequent top-up shopping trips. Since it holds true across all social classes, c-stores may have to rethink their ranges to give them wider appeal. Supermarkets are already recognising the need to up their convenience offer in order to retain customer loyalty. Sainsbury’s recently opened store at Hazel Grove, Manchester, includes a dedicated convenience section with separate checkouts. Other supermarket operators have increased their range of convenience goods, such as ready meals, while Safeway’s new format includes in-store foodservice.
Datamonitor forecasts consumer visits to c-stores across Europe will increase from 18.9bn in 2001 to 20.4bn in 2006. C-stores will see their share of the total European food and drink market increase from 12.5 per cent to 13.3 per cent in the same period, an extra 16.2bn euros in sales.
The pattern is not uniform across Europe, however. For example, in France, where the hypermarket format is very strong, c-stores will not see overall increase in market share. Although French consumers will visit c-stores more often, they will tend to purchase fewer items and spend less each shop. In Italy, where small local convenience stores are a major grocery channel, share of the market will increase from 19 per cent in 2001 to 20.5 per cent in 2006.
The research highlights that convenience store consumers, as well as their sales, are spread evenly across the social strata. Datamonitor believes that many stores may be focussing too heavily on the higher social grades. Piers Berezai, Datamonitor consumer markets analyst and author of the report said: “Retailers will need to account for the growth in top-up shopping and offer more convenience goods, and not just position themselves as small-scale local supermarkets. Furthermore, most convenience goods are currently being targeted at ABC1 consumers, but C2DEs have the same convenience demands and are largely overlooked. The key to unlocking the potential in the market will be updating retail formats and over-hauling product lines to attract a wide range of consumers through the doors. Only one or two players in each country are likely to succeed by targeting a very strictly defined set of consumers.”
Not all existing c-stores will benefit, however. The growing presence of the major supermarket multiples like Tesco and Delhaize will lead to a slight reduction in the overall number of convenience stores in the future and a shift towards larger formats. The importance of petrol forecourts will also increase in many countries as they benefit from the growth in on-the-move consumption, says the report.
