The severe summer experienced by tourism has harmed Basque families, who in addition to facing the costs of summer vacations, sometimes subject to credit, also have to face other challenges such as the maximum rate increase in the last two decades, or the increase in inflation rose again to 3.5% in September, according to advance data published by INE last Thursday. A percentage that remains small compared to the increase in the shopping basket, which is more than 10%. The economic drain on the family did not stop. A situation that makes them more demanding when deciding where and what to buy. It doesn’t suit everyone and you have to make a choice.
In this context, supermarket chains compete to attract buyers with aggressive offers and savings campaigns that are attractive in this context of the ‘promotional war’. This term did not convince Eroski’s commercial director, Beatriz Santos, who called the term “harmful” for a sector that “is trying to transfer savings to consumers.” “Society in general terms is in savings mode, with high price sensitivity,” he admitted. For this reason, the number of products purchased is reduced and the monitoring of spending is strengthened “with smaller and more controlled purchases.”
The amount
10.5% increased
the price of the shopping basket last year. For 17 months, even the Government-sponsored reduction in VAT on basic foods has failed to have a clear impact on costs.
In the case of Eroski, whose market share has now reached the fourth position according to the Kantar study, surpassing DIA, the commitment includes “hundreds of weeks of promotions in the most sought-after categories, thousands of personal discount and savings programs like Eroski. Club Gold. Also the so-called ‘basket that makes you fall in love’, which became popular in March after reducing the price of a thousand foods. This bet now includes school supplies and a big two-for-one discount to fill the fridge. too,” said Santos, who estimated a hundred million investments to meet these margins.
The commitment of BM supermarkets, for its part, includes a clear commitment in September and October to promote the consumption of “fresh produce and quality food.” In your case, every week a saving will be made in seven butchers, delicatessen, fruit and fish products. “The objective is to facilitate the purchase of these fresh products, essential for a good meal,” details the director of management and sales of the store, Miguel Ángel Zamorano, who remembers that the measure is added to other strategies to reduce the increase. costs and it has little impact on prices, while “maintaining quality” and “ensuring a healthy shopping basket.” “The wonderful reception of the initiative that we launched in the summer, with the fresh basket at half price, encouraged us to create this new campaign, which helps to consume these products and, therefore, to promote healthy food”, he says.
Different products
Other giants, such as Carrefour, continue their commitment to campaigns focused on two-for-one offers aimed at members, second units at half price and different levels in discount percentages, while Mercadona focuses on its own line of ‘SPB’ -Always Low Prices – developed in 1993, where they defend their interest in “being able to continue to offer customers products that are different” through a strategy based on “conscious and critical consumption, guided by social and environmental ethics, which aims to guarantee the consumption of the highest quality products with the least possible impact. In any case, the measure of the Valencian chain introduced last April, which means discounting 500 products for the first time, allows the brand to achieve now a “historic” share of the distribution market, according to to study Kantar, which they did. .to touch 27%.
Aldi bases its commitment on its model as a “discount company” and includes keys such as “the continuous review of retail prices” and the commitment to focus “on basic products”, because as they have the greatest impact on the consumer. The German company launched between 30 and 40 weekly offers that include meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, in addition to itself involved in the opening of new establishments in the first three months from creation this.
Another strategy is to reduce the price of products that are about to reach their expiration date by up to 30%. “In 2022, the waste of more than 5,994 tons of food is avoided thanks to this measure,” they defended. Now, in the coming months, they want to double their efforts with discounts aimed at fresh products of national origin (40%), own brand meat and seafood (25%), and breakfast, organic , pantry and personal hygiene products (up to 50%).
OBSERVATORY
For its part, Lild defends a bet based on weekly offers and personalized discount coupons. “In the context of high inflation and a general increase in costs last year, we continue to work to not completely transfer the increase in costs associated with our operations to the final sales price and thus facilitate savings in Spanish families as much as possible” , they stood.
In this context, the Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-service and Supermarkets (Asedas), where brands such as Mercadona itself or ALDI are represented, and others consulted, have an observatory that analyzes the migration to the bottom value products, changes in brands and the possibility of changing your usual supermarket, something that is often linked to changes in habits that lead to the abandonment of large monthly purchase of large carts, to replace them with more frequent uses with smaller baskets that encourage Visiting distribution locations outside of the usual ones.
Regarding strategies to attract customers, one of the latest studies conducted by Asedas observes the behavior of commerce in an inflationary context. There they found that physical store purchases are now up seven percentage points, mixed purchases are down six and purely ‘online’ has lost one point. The authors of the report emphasize, based on this data, the return to the traditional store “as a way to control the cost of food,” but also to facilitate an environment where the products that work can be compared more you are good In this area, they value the so-called ‘three C’s’ (Convenience, Trust and Cost), which are reaffirmed as levers of consumption.
- Less savings A study by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) warns that “skyrocketing” prices cause only 17% of customers to save 300 euros per month.
- Borrowing The most recent OCU study, dated this year, shows that 37% of consumers use their savings to make purchases and that 15% have to ask for money from family or a group of friends.
- Harmful habits Surveys carried out by the consumer association highlight that nine out of ten people need to change their eating habits. For 68%, this measure means worsening their diet.
