Since the cost-of-living-crisis started, we have been tracking how shoppers are coping with budget pressures, ranging from checking prices to searching for promotions, switching retailers and stockpiling. These coping strategies continuously intensified over the past one-and-a-half years – and dropped in late 2023 – for the first time and across the board. At the same time, though at a lower level, more shoppers declared that they wanted to treat themselves to something special.
We do see some relaxation: Shoppers also intend to spend more, which leads us to believe that there is more room for non-essentials. But not at any price. Rational behavior with a sustained high price focus remains stable at a fairly high level, though not increasing, and shoppers still prefer private labels over brands.
We have also been tracking how shoppers would react to price increases in different categories. If we are now adding the dimension of potential price relaxation, there are three categories, which will most likely profit: meat and fish, confectionery, and alcoholic drinks. Especially meat and fish is a volatile category, where shoppers plan to react strongly if prices move in either direction.
