Economy Changing How Singaporeans Shop For Food

Nielsen Wire — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:15:01 +0000

Consumers around the world are changing the way they spend their money given the difficult and uncertain economic conditions. In Singapore, one way people are adjusting is by eating at home more frequently, according to new research from Nielsen. The result: the average Singapore home is spending more on fresh food, groceries and household items than in recent years, creating opportunities for retailers and manufacturers who know how to effectively leverage this new behavior.

The average household has increased overall spending in these categories by 14 percent, with fresh food spend registering an average of 15 percent growth, with the biggest increased among high-income households. Seventy percent of Singaporeans survey said they changed the way they spend their money with a view toward increasing savings. Almost 75 percent of shoppers said that they now “buy only the essentials” and were making fewer purchases of chocolates, carbonated soft drinks and salty snacks. Basics such as rice, bread, cheese, butter/margarine and infant milk were some of the fastest growing categories.

“Modern day Singaporeans lead hectic lifestyles and are generally tight for time, and convenience is the key driver when deciding where to shop. Supermarkets and hypermarkets meet their needs as shoppers are now able to get all of their fresh food, grocery and household needs under the same roof,” said Ooi Pin Pin, associate director, retailer services for Nielsen Singapore. As a result, these outlets have seen their sales of fresh foods post solid growth, while traditional wet markets have continued to decline.

Read the full press release on how Singaporeans are changing how they shop for food here.

British Hypermarkets Thrive, While Small Retailers Struggle

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:45:38 +0000

Sales in British supermarkets picked up during the last two weeks of November, as shoppers turned their backs on convenience stores and the high street retailers in favor of larger purchases at larger, value-oriented hypermarkets, Nielsen reported Tuesday.

Year-over-year growth at hypermarkets reached 6% during the period, while the smallest convenience outlets declined by almost 2% during the 12-week period.

In comparison, year-over-year growth in the British grocery sector stood at 3.2% during the 12 weeks ending 29 November, according to Nielsen. Grocery multiples showed stronger growth (+5.6%) during the period.

“In order to save money shoppers are making less visits to grocery stores,” Mike Watkins, senior manager retailer services, Nielsen, noted. “Nielsen has identified that virtually every major food retailer saw the number of visits per shopper fall in November versus a year ago and the big casualties are those retailers that people visit to do top up, small basket, and indulgence shops.”

According to Nielsen, there are exceptions to this trend. Retailers like Morrisons and Asda, and value retailers like Iceland drew plenty of shoppers — and even showed accelerating sales in the most recent 12-week period.

Rank (by share of grocery sales)	Retailers	Share of Grocery Sales: 12 Weeks Ending Dec. 1, 2007	Share of Grocery Sales: 12 Weeks Ending Nov. 29, 2008	% Change: Value Sales
1	Tesco	28.0%	28.0%	3.2%
2	Asda	15.1%	15.8%	7.7%
3	Sainsbury	14.2%	14.2%	3.6%
4	Morrisons	10.0%	10.6%	9.5%
5	Co-op	6.0%	5.9%	1.7%
6	Waitrose	3.4%	3.3%	-0.9%
7	M&S	3.9%	3.7%	-0.9%
8	Somerfield	3.5%	3.4%	-1.3%
9	Iceland	1.6%	1.8%	13.2%
Source: The Nielsen Company (September 2 – December 1, 2007 and August 31 – November 29, 2008).

View the press release.

Nielsen Wire » hypermarkets

Economy Changing How Singaporeans Shop For Food

British Hypermarkets Thrive, While Small Retailers Struggle