Promo Dynamic – Promotions fall as multiples get set for Olympic bonanza
The Grocer
The countdown to the Olympics saw featured space promotions elbowed out in three of the top five this week, as gondola ends were given over to assorted London 2012-themed goods. Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all reduced promotions, both month-on-month and year-on-year, and also focused on giving more promotional space to single brands.
“Bigger displays with fewer ‘different’ products or brands seems to be the trend,” said Kay Staniland, Assosia managing director.
Morrisons reined in the most, cutting back by 5.8% on last month and 9.7% compared with last year [Assosia 4 w/e 22 July]. This brings Morrisons sharply in line with the other multiples. Last July, with 2,024 promotions, it ran 10% more than second-placed Sainsbury’s with 1,833. This July it ran just two more promotions than Sainsbury’s.
Deals at Sainsbury’s were 5.5% down on last month and down 2% at Tesco. Waitrose, however, bucked the trend by offering 15.4% more deals than last month and 17.9% more than last year. But with 1,033 deals, it still lags hundreds of promos behind the big four.
With the wet weather continuing for much of the period, beer and lager deals saw the biggest slump and were down 2.5% year-on-year. alcohol saw the biggest drop in all the retailers except for Asda, which almost doubled the number of wine and spirits promotions.
“The weather continues to have a significant impact on which products are being promoted. The retailers usually have their plans in place many weeks before but these plans are having to be revised to take advantage when the sun finally shines,” said Staniland.
The multibuy continued its fall from grace, with x-for-y promotions accounting for 26.9% of all deals, compared with 34.2% a year ago. Half-price offers picked up the most and accounted for 19.8% of all promotions, compared with 11.6% last year. Morrisons ran the most half-price deals, with the mechanic accounting for 34.9% of its deals, up from 9.1% last year. Tesco and Waitrose ran the highest proportion of multibuy deals, with x-for-y promotions or bogofs accounting for 38.7% and 43.7% respectively.
| 4 weeks to 22nd July 2012 | |||||
| Asda | Morrisons | Sainsbury’s | Tesco | Waitrose | |
| Number of offers | 1730 | 1827 | 1825 | 1655 | 1033 |
| Number last month | 1669 | 1940 | 1932 | 1688 | 895 |
| % change m-o-m | 3.65% | -5.82% | -5.54% | -1.95% | 15.42% |
| Number last year | 1588 | 2024 | 1833 | 1720 | 876 |
| % change on last year | 8.94% | -9.73% | -0.44% | -3.78% | 17.92% |
| Average start price (£) | £3.38 | £4.06 | £4.42 | £4.53 | £6.95 |
| Typical Average £ saving | £1.37 | £1.82 | £1.84 | £2.14 | £2.42 |
| Typical Average % saving | 32.44% | 36.81% | 34.89% | 36.49% | 31.83% |
| Average saving last month | £1.39 | £1.91 | £1.67 | £2.28 | £2.28 |
| Average saving last year | 32.12% | 37.25% | 34.43% | 36.38% | 33.72% |
| Current Brand:own-label ratio | 88:12 | 91:09 | 78:22 | 81:19 | 86:14 |
| Ratio 1 year ago | 80:20 | 91:09 | 79:21 | 85:15 | 81:19 |
| Average % saving (branded) | 33.73% | 36.61% | 36.16% | 37.11% | 31.98% |
| Average % saving (o/l) | 22.90% | 38.81% | 30.04% | 31.27% | 30.89% |
Published in The Grocer, 28 July 2012