We buy more in supermarkets than in the market. We go shopping less times but we fill the cart more. But putting household essentials in the basket has become 47% more expensive in the last four years, so we protect our pockets by choosing white label. That is the summary of the changes in habits reflected in the Building the Shopping Basket report, presented today by Kantar Worldpanel.
Thus, breaking down the trend in data, the report states that the basic shopping basket, made up of oil, rice, coffee, detergent, cookies, among other products, has become more expensive by 47% in the last four years.
In this way, the white label emerges as a refuge and already accounts for "half of the spending in the Spanish shopping basket," he stated. Given the inflation registered in 2023, which affected the food (11.9%) and beverage (8.9%) segments, "the consumer has tried to protect themselves with the distributor's brand, also promoted by the chains themselves of distribution," explained Mayte González, director of Shopper
Specifically, Lidl, Mercadona and Dia are the main promoters of private label in their sales areas, especially in drugstore products. 58% of purchases in this segment are made with the distributor's brand and in food, spending on private label amounts to 54% of the total, reveals Kantar.
Even with this change in trend, 30% of shopping carts are still filled with the manufacturer's brand while only 10% of baskets carry only white label. 60% combine both types of references, which leads to the expert's conclusion that "not everything is price."
In terms of habits, the average consumer analyzed by Kantar goes shopping less often, about three times a week on average, and usually goes to hypermarkets and supermarkets instead of the traditional market channel, fruit shops, etc...
Thus, Kantar considers that the consumer chooses the dynamic channel (hypermarkets) because it gives them the possibility of accessing "more references to fill the shopping basket and go to the establishments less times." The consumer walks around looking for their favorite products and ends up buying in up to seven different supermarket brands during the year. But in the end, households concentrate 75% of their purchases in three brands, more than half in the first alone.
