Researchers from ABN Amro have anonymously investigated the spending of their private customers with the debit card, because the price increases are expected to make people pay attention to the little ones. Lower incomes in particular are hit hard by increased energy and food prices, which take a relatively larger bite out of their budget.
The research now shows that consumers generally do not yet look for the cheapest products in the various supermarkets, or that they deviate from their own favorite supermarket. Since 2018, a stable consumer visits the average number of three stores per month, and that has not increased yet.
Bargain hunting
What is visible: as a first reaction to inflation, consumers are buying more private labels instead of the so-called A-brands that are often on the shelves at eye level. Research by market research institute GfK has already shown this. If inflation increases or at least continues, the ABN Amro researchers do expect that consumers will visit multiple supermarkets to hunt for bargains.
What also emerged from the research is that consumers started spending more in supermarkets during the corona pandemic, with a significant peak in the festive month of December. The higher spending is mainly due to people with higher incomes. This group normally went out to eat more often. Due to the lockdown, that was of course not possible, because the catering industry was closed. As it turned out, this group was doing luxury grocery shopping to fill that gap.