The Post Economic Recession Supermarket Consumer

ABSTRACT Background: The economic recession that the United Kingdom is witnessing at present has affected many different industries with the supermarket industry being no exception. The supermarket industry is seeing market shares fluctuate as some consumers are switching from traditional domestic supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s to the international ‘no frills’ discounters Aldi and Lidl. This change in market share is reportedly due to the consumer changing the way in which they purchase their groceries. The aim of the study was to investigate how the consumer has changed their purchasing habits as a result of the economic recession while also investigating what has driven this change. Methodology: The effects of the economic recession on how consumers purchase their groceries and how consumers choose their grocery store was investigated using a self completed questionnaire. The questionnaire was also used to investigate the prevalence of store switching and brand switching behaviour in light of the economic recession. Socio-demographic factors were then used to investigate if specific groupings were associated with changes in consumer behaviour. The results were analysed using SPSS. Results: The data collection generated a sample of 76 questionnaires that were able to be analysed. The results show that the majority of post economic recession consumers have become increasingly price focused when looking at the consumer buying process and also when choosing a supermarket store and brand. A secondary finding was that the majority of the sample had been loyal to their grocery store during the recession period. Overall there appeared to no trends present in the data to suggest that specific socio-demographic groupings are responsible for changes in consumer behaviour. Conclusion: The results were able to show trends in the how the consumer has changed their purchasing habits as a result of the economic recession although extrapolation of these results cannot be achieved due to the sampling method chosen. While the limitations to the study do limit the interpretation of the results somewhat, they do hold some implications to the supermarket industry and its ‘key players’. The study does however acknowledge that further studies are needed if the findings of this study are to be enhanced