Contrary to what seemed like it was going to happen in the midst of the pandemic crisis, The shopping basket is fuller in a street-level supermarket now than before the outbreak of covid. In 2019, around 70% of the population bought in a physical establishment, 3.5% opted exclusively for online shopping and 27% combined both formats. Five years later, after several ups and downs clearly influenced by the health context, this picture has become polarized. With data collected in 2023, Almost 73% of the population buys in a physical establishment and 4.8% opts exclusively for online shopping, but only 22% combines both formats. And one of the key elements of this flight seems to have been inflation.
This is shown by the Observatory of Electronic Commerce in Food that makes the Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-services and Supermarkets (ASEDAS) in collaboration with two professors from the Complutense University of Madrid and of the Autonomous University of Madrid, Maria Puelles and Gonzalo Morena. The report – the association summarizes – “confirms the trend already observed last year of a return to the physical store as a way to control spending”, as well as a formula, also, to give value to local purchases.
To begin with, this survey of some 2,600 people allows us to discover that The educational and economic level are factors that tip the balance towards one type of purchase or another (“The highest level of income leans towards the ‘online’ channel,” the authors of the study specify). But regardless of that, the behaviors seem widespread. Almost six out of ten of the digital ‘super’ followers who have abandoned this type of purchase have done so because of the price, because they believe that in the physical store they can compare better. They are half, in the case of those who move interchangeably between one channel and another.
The second most cited reason is the perception that buying ‘online’ ends up being less comfortable than going to the physical store. This is indicated by 37% of buyers who opt for purchasing in a traditional establishment, 28% of the public who combine both formats and 14% of consumers who use a virtual cart.
Savings strategies
“In addition to convenience, The abandonment of online purchases is the result of a search for savings“The first is a line that is maintained over time, the second is the continuation of a trend already observed in 2023 and motivated by the inflationary crisis,” contextualizes the report, which pays good attention, in general, to the series of behaviors that are modified in order to reduce the final cost of the shopping basket.
The most notable changes are 30% of people who say they have reduced the amount of fish and seafood they buy, 31% who have started buying ‘white label’ drugstore and cleaning products (27% have done the same with packaged food and 25% with toiletries and personal care items), or 30% who claim to be going to cheaper stores to buy fruits and vegetables. On the other side of the scale, it is surprising how many consumers (66%) claim to have not changed their behavior at all when purchasing food for their pets.
Despite all this series of strategies, four out of ten consumers doubt whether they have really managed to savecompared to 39% who are clear that they have done it and 19% who are convinced that it has been of no use.
