IRI has unveiled two economic indicators for retailers and FMCG manufacturers across Europe, which will provide insights for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Firstly, the IRI Demand Index monitors weekly changes in purchases by value sales against the same period a year ago, across departments/aisles and categories.
Elsewhere, the IRI Inflation Tracker tracks changes in the price of CPG goods, monitoring weekly changes in consumer prices against the same period a year ago across departments/aisles, categories and in some countries, across retail formats and regions.
“These two economic indicators are a powerful combination, providing a consistent, comparable global view of demand and inflation," commented Baljit ‘Bal’ Dail, president of IRI Global.
"They will enable managers to benchmark their performance across countries and continents, and are useful for global clients of IRI, public policy makers, industry leaders, associations, retailers and government to get a clear read on what is happening in this constantly dynamic industry.”
High Demand
Insights from the Demand Index and Inflation Tracker reveal that across all countries analysed, the overall demand for consumer products remains high, even though there is a slowdown in some countries, notably France and Italy.
This is despite average prices increasing across all countries since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, except in France, where an increase was visible after 10 May.
Frozen food continues to be a winner across all countries studied, but the growth drivers for this macro category vary by market. For example, in the UK, ice creams and desserts and frozen fish have led the growth of the category.
In the Netherlands, vegetables, desserts and potato products were the drivers, and in Italy, the growth of frozen food was impacted by the decrease in demand across the ice creams category.
Other Trends
Other noticeable trends include a decrease in demand for confectionery and in-store bakery products in France and the UK, IRI said.
Elsewhere, despite a lower average price for laundry detergent in Germany and France, demand has decreased since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Elizabeth Schroeder. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
