A recent study by Waitrose offers further confirmation that the culture in the UK of acquiring the majority of FMCGs through consumers doing one large weekly shop is weakening, theguardian.com reports.
Waitrose’s yearly assessment of consumer buying habits reveals that 30 per cent of people buy goods in a supermarket on three or four occasions in a week. This figure was 25 per cent five years ago.
The outgoing UK chain's CEO, Mark Price, says that this development reflects societal change: “As society changes, so does the nature of shopping,” he said. “It is more informal and flexible than ever before. High streets are seeing significant changes: today you can get a panini in a newsagent, a newspaper in a coffee shop, have a sit-down meal in a supermarket and buy your dinner in a petrol station. It can be overwhelming.”
The company’s chief of operations and trading, convenience, Jon Arnold, said, "It used to be that ‘topping up’ in a convenience store was unplanned and not particularly desired. But now shoppers deliberately work it into their weekly routine. They buy bulky food online, or all in one go, and then nip out in the week to buy dinner for that night."
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
