More than half of K Group customers (62%) in Finland say they plan to buy more of the store's own-brand products amid rising costs, new data from the retailer's K-Barometer survey has unveiled.
The same trend was also seen in the sales data, the retailer said, with 15% more K-Menu products sold in August and September than in the same period last year.
Tuuli Luoma, sales director at Kesko responsible for own brands in the grocery division, said, "Customers are more interested in the bottom line of their shopping basket, so they may have switched to cheaper alternatives. This is particularly the case for staple foods.
"On the other hand, demand for higher quality products has also remained steady. For example, in the Pirkka Parhaat range, sales of Port Salut cheese made in Åland grew by almost 40% in August-September."
Product Categories
Product categories which are witnessing shoppers move to cheaper own-brand options include coffee, eggs, chicken products, tuna, milk cream, oven sausage, biscuits, salad cheeses and wheat flour.
Higher quality, private-label alternatives have replaced smoothies, Gouda slices, cream cheese, Serrano ham, Salame Milano, cat food, frozen seafood and special beers, the data also showed.
"People may make different choices on the same shopping trip. You may choose a cheap spaghetti but then want to buy a cheaper grated cheese with it, such as parmesan cheese, instead of a cheaper grated cheese. Each consumer's choices about how to put together a shopping basket are different," Luoma explained.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
