News
Supermarket sweep continues for consumers
Samantha Loveday Mar 14 2008, 10:01am
New research shows more people in the UK shopping at supermarkets for non-food items than ever before.
Over 62 per cent of all shoppers regularly use supermarkets to buy non-food items, collectively spending over £19.7 billion according to new research by Verdict Consulting.
These numbers have risen sharply compared to five years ago when just 45 per cent used grocers for non-food, collectively spending £13.3 billion.
A fifth of UK consumers regularly buy clothing, homewares, music and video items from supermarkets, while just under half of consumer use them for personal care products.
"What grocers offer is convenience with very competitive prices," said Neil Saunders, Verdict's director of consulting.
"For the time pressed, cost conscious consumer it is a great advantage to be able to pick up good priced clothing or electrical items at the same time as doing a food shop."
Asda is the UK's fifth largest clothing retailer, while Tesco is ninth. Meanwhile, in personal care, all of the four major players (Tesco, Sainbury's, Asda and Morrisons) have larger market shares than health and beauty specialist Superdrug.
Verdict is forecasting that, collectively, grocers' sales of non-food could be worth £24.4 billion by 2012 - 24 per cent higher than currently.
