We do our shopping more often at the cheaper supermarkets ALDI and Lidl. This is apparent from figures that NU.nl has requested from market researcher IRI. You would think this is because groceries are getting more expensive, but it seems that the discounters are only regaining some ground that they lost in the corona pandemic.
“We are seeing a shift from more luxurious supermarkets such as Albert Heijn and Jumbo to discounters,” says Sjanny van Beekveld of IRI. “But it seems that this is mainly a recovery from the dip that ALDI and Lidl had in the corona period and this is not directly because groceries have become more expensive.”
During the pandemic, we preferred to go to just one supermarket, where we did all our shopping – online or not. ALDI and Lidl together now have 15.9 percent of the grocery pie. In 2019, before the corona crisis, this was still a share of 16.2 percent. During the corona years, the percentage fell to 15.6 percent.
Statistics agency CBS previously reported that food and drinks have become more than 11 percent more expensive in a year. The higher prices do have an effect on what we buy in the supermarket across the board. “Here too we have to take into account that we are comparing with a period when the catering industry was closed, for example,” emphasizes the IRI researcher.
“The amount of food and drinks we buy in the supermarket is now 6 percent lower than a year ago.” A clearer relationship with the high prices can be seen with the private labels. “We buy significantly more of that,” says Van Beekveld.
We don’t save on groceries by hoarding offers. According to IRI, we actually buy fewer products that are on sale. “With ice cream, for example, you see that people opt for a cheaper alternative. And less organic meat is sold, which is more expensive than the non-organic variant.”
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