Case Study
Face-to-Face Consumer Interviews For Havering Council
Supermarkets are decking the halls with promotional offers ahead of Christmas, but shoppers aren’t getting as many good deals as they were last year – especially in the booze aisles.
Most of the mults are offering more featured space promotions than last month, with the exception of Asda – which has reduced the number of promotions by 1.33% [Promodynamic Retailers 52 w/e 4 December 2016]. Morrisons has increased the number of featured space promotions in stores by the most, up 8.7% month on month to 2,421, while Sainsbury’s has the most deals at 3,131, up 4.1% compared with the previous four-week period.
On a year-on-year basis, only Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose have increased the number of featured space promotions, and average % savings have fallen almost across the board, again with the exception of Asda, where they are up 3.29 points to 29.9%.
The amount of shoppers can save on featured space deals is falling because the mults are reducing the number of bogof and half-price deals and increasing the number of ‘save’ promotions – which have a lower average of saving of 30%.
BWS has suffered the biggest drop in terms of the number of deals on offer, accounting for just under 20% of total featured space promotions compared with 22% last year. Average % savings on alcohol have also fallen by three points to 23%. “Waitrose is the only retailer to buck this trend by increasing BWS deals, which now account for 38.1% of its total promotional activity,” says Assosia’s Kay Staniland. However, even Waitrose has cut average % savings on beer & Lager and spirits.
Meanwhile, Asda and Tesco are offering bigger savings on spirits, and Asda has increased savings on beer & lager. Sainsbury’s has cut average savings on all alcohol deals. Overall, wine has suffered the biggest cut in savings.
| 4 weeks to 4th December 2016 | ||||||
| Asda | Co-op | Morrisons | Sainsbury’s | Tesco | Waitrose | |
| Number of offers | 2378 | 858 | 2421 | 3131 | 2438 | 1300 |
| Number last month | 2410 | 800 | 2228 | 3008 | 2387 | 1216 |
| % change m-o-m | -1.33% | 7.25% | 8.66% | 4.09% | 2.14% | 6.91% |
| Number last year | 2540 | 860 | 2380 | 2911 | 2620 | 1220 |
| % change on last year | -6.38% | -0.23% | 1.72% | 7.56% | -6.95% | 6.56% |
| Average start price (£) per UNIT | £3.65 | £4.33 | £4.55 | £4.56 | £4.30 | £6.42 |
| Typical Average TOTAL £ saving | £1.58 | £1.57 | £1.71 | £1.30 | £1.48 | £2.12 |
| Typical Average TOTAL % saving | 30.9% | 34.0% | 33.5% | 27.4% | 31.2% | 31.6% |
| Average % saving last month | 31.8% | 34.9% | 33.5% | 27.8% | 31.8% | 30.5% |
| % savings change m-o-m | -2.78% | -2.69% | -0.12% | -1.61% | -1.84% | 3.43% |
| Average % saving last year | 29.9% | 36.0% | 36.2% | 29.1% | 32.4% | 33.5% |
| % savings change on last year | 3.29% | -5.49% | -7.49% | -6.03% | -3.62% | -5.75% |
| Current Brand:own-label ratio | 92:18 | 73:27 | 91:09 | 79:21 | 87:13 | 86:14 |
| Ratio 1 year ago | 90:10 | 73:27 | 89:11 | 78:22 | 86:14 | 84:16 |
| Average % saving (branded) | 31.6% | 36.3% | 34.2% | 28.5% | 32.2% | 31.9% |
| Average % saving (o/l) | 22.2% | 27.8% | 26.6% | 23.1% | 25.0% | 29.3% |
Published in The Grocer, 14 December 2016.