Where Britain Shops 2008: Supermarkets

Abstract

Introduction

Verdict Research: With supermarkets building ever more substantial positions in non-food, they present an increasing threat to specialist retailers. Not only are their non-food ranges becoming more comprehensive, but they are also now much more widely available as supermarkets broaden their reach through new superstores, non-food only stores and online non-food operations.

Scope

• A wide-ranging analysis of the way customers shop in supermarkets with profiles of the UK' s four largest grocers: Asda, Morrison, Sainsbury and Tesco.
• For each category this report provides a full socio-economic breakdown of shoppers, analysis of competitors used and sector penetration data.
• For each profiled retailer, this report provides a socio-economic breakdown of their customer base, cross sector shopping data and conversion rates.

Highlights

For the fifth straight year, Tesco has increased its share of UK shoppers. 50.9% of all UK shoppers use Tesco on a regular basis, a 2.2 percentage point increase. The retailer has achieved this growth through opening 139 new stores across a number of formats as well as developing other channels such as its online offer and new catalogue offer.

Homewares is the fastest growing non-food sector in supermarkets. Grocers have increased their share of all homewares shoppers by 2.9 percentage points to 45.0%, more than three times the growth of the sector with the second largest increase: DIY, which grew by 0.9 percentage points.

Electricals continue to be attractive to supermarkets. For the seventh straight year, the percentage of electricals shoppers buying from supermarkets has increased, growing this time by 0.3 percentage points to 25.4%. However, they still trail large electricals specialists like Currys, attracting 42.1% of UK electricals shoppers, and Comet 32.0%.

Reasons to Purchase

• Where Britain Shops is one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, drawing on a nationwide survey of 6,000 shoppers each year.
• Verdict' s thorough understanding of retail issues enables us to interpret data from an informed viewpoint and explore the implications for retailers.
• With supermarkets strengthening their position in non-food categories, understanding customer motivations for using them has never been more important.