Nielsen: consumers already careful with their spending

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Finnish consumers have already reacted to the increased food prices and the gloomy economic prospects by changing their purchasing habits, reveals market research company Nielsen’s January-September consumer panel, which measures the shopping behaviour of households.
      Between January and September this year, people bought fewer and cheaper products than during the same period in 2007. Basic groceries and retail chains’ own brands were favoured in outlets that had been perceived as cheap, such as hypermarkets and the Lidl chain.
      Cooking and baking are increasing their popularity at the expense of readymade meals.
     
Today households buy more and more flour, eggs, cooking oil, and other baking products, despite the fact that the prices of these products, too, have increased.
      Potato is also increasing its popularity. Medium-strength beer, sparkling water, and soft drinks, on the other hand, are selling less strongly than before.
      The selling of grocery chains’ own brands is growing faster than that of branded items. They cover nearly 14 per cent of all the sold current consumer goods and perishables.
      According to managing director Rami Veranen of Nielsen Finland, the retail chains’ marketing may also play a role in the consumer behaviour, for those in the highest income classes in particular have increased their purchasing of the stores’ own brands.
     
When measured in terms of the number of shopping trips, hypermarkets, gas station shops, and Lidl stores have increased their popularity the most.
      Discount stores, and supermarkets, in turn, have lost some of their appeal.
      From the retail chains, Prisma, the German Lidl, and Tradeka’s Euromarket have had the most vigorous increase in the number of visits to their outlets. In this respect, K-extra and Siwa outlets were the biggest losers.
      “The selling of everyday goods has dropped because of the elevated price levels but also because of the increased economic insecurity. The same trend is evident in several European countries, so in this respect Finland is not an exception”, Veranen says.
     
In Europe it is Turkey, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Ireland that have experienced the most dramatic rise in food prices.
      Of the Nordic countries, Denmark has this dubious honour.
      Nielsen’s consumer panel measures continuously the purchasing of daily goods by around 2,500 Finnish households.


Links:
  Nielsen Finland (site in Finnish)

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