SHOPPING AROUND for value in grocery products has now become the norm for Irish consumers, as has cross-Border shopping, the National Dairy Council conference was told yesterday.
Alan Purcell, head of marketing with Neilsen Ireland, said its latest research here showed 72 per cent of shoppers indicated they had switched to “cheaper” grocery products.
The survey, Shopper Trends, found 55 per cent of consumers were doing their shopping in four different supermarket chains and they continued to travel North where overall sales were now 16 per cent up on last year.
He said discounters now accounted for nearly 7 per cent of all grocery sales, growing much faster than the rest of the trade.
“[Discounters’] share varies between 16 per cent in areas like frozen food to 5 per cent in alcohol sales, the lack of major brands preventing additional growth here,” he said.
Own-brand products now account for 18.7 per cent of grocery purchases, he said, reaching 37 per cent for fixed-weight cheese.
Ireland, Mr Purcell said, was now in the top 10 most promotionally sensitive countries. The dairy industry, however, was less affected than the average with only 27 per cent of consumers swayed from their planned purchase due to promotion.
“Within dairy, milk remains ahead in value; however, volumes remain stagnant. The biggest trends are the decline in premium dairy products like sliced cheese, cheese snacks and yoghurt,” he said. He said Irish consumers continue to support Irish-made products.
Kevin Bellamy, executive director of Global Dairy Platform, said there are real financial benefits to the consumer and society in consuming a healthy diet.
He said consumers were confused and fed up with being told “what not to eat” and many governments were increasingly exercising regulatory controls as a way of combating the confusion in nutrition communication. However, these simplified regulatory and advisory messages too frequently come over as authoritarian.
“We need to offer consumers a new and simple way of thinking about how to eat healthily, without having to become an expert,” said Mr Bellamy.