Value has become a main focus for Asian shoppers, partly driven by the economic situation and partly as a result of increased retailer activity focused around price and promotions. According to Nielsen’s Asia Pacific Retail and Shopper Trends 2009 Report, more than 70 percent of shoppers claim to have become more price sensitive compared to last year. The effect: shoppers are more inclined to buy only what they need, spending their money on essentials rather than on treats or what they now consider ‘nice-to-haves’. They’re also consciously trying to cut down on the quantity purchased and are actively seeking out products on promotion.

Over the course of 2008 in Asia, grocery markets continued to show volume growth, led by India (+9%), China (+9%) and Vietnam (+18%), with only Taiwan (-7%) experiencing a decline in sales. Value sales increased by double figures in many markets on the back of high inflation for key food categories. But with inflation falling in all markets, we have seen value growth drop sharply in 2009, although overall volume growth in many markets has held up reasonably well with shoppers not cutting back significantly on grocery categories.

Traditional trade continues to lose share

As expected, the traditional counter service trade continued to lose share in Asia, with overall share of trade dropping another percentage point to 47 percent in 2008. At the same time, the absolute number of traditional grocery stores in the region grew by one percent to over 12.3 million stores. In most developed countries, traditional store numbers fell by five percentage points or more. In Korea, where traditional store numbers dropped by nine percentage points, the share of trade decreased from 15.9 to 13.9 percent, while in Taiwan the traditional trade now accounts for just over six percent of sales, having lost 1.5 percent share in the last 12 months.

The retail landscape looks very different in Southeast and South Asia, however, where traditional store numbers actually grew year on year, and even though share of total grocery sales continues to decline slowly, the majority of shoppers in all markets continue to shop at this trade channel. The traditional channel continues to meets shoppers’ needs for everyday convenience, personal service and affordability – being able to buy the smallest sizes and quantities.

Growth of small modern trade outlets

Globally, many large retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour have embraced a multi-format strategy that includes the development of smaller neighborhood stores. Similar growth in small modern trade outlets is also being seen across Asia, with mini-markets/small supermarket store numbers increasing by 17 percent in 2008 to over 100,000 stores.

Indonesia has led the way over the last 10 years and in 2008 more than 1,500 new stores opened, taking the total to over 10,500. These stores now account for more than 16 percent of total packaged grocery sales. Shoppers in Indonesia are continuing to embrace the convenient location, relatively good service and acceptably low prices offered at mini-markets.

Retailers in China are also investing in this store format, with store numbers growing by 22 percent in 2008 to more than 70,000 stores, accounting for more than three-quarters of all modern self-service outlets.

In South Korea we are also seeing the leading Hypermarket operators expanding into small supermarket formats, or ‘Super Supermarkets’ as they are known in South Korea. Samsung Tesco is now operating over 150 SSM Homeplus Express stores and E-mart is planning to open 30 or 40 small, 300 square meter E-Mart Everyday stores. The expansion of these large chains into the small store arena has led to concerns regarding competition with small store owners, and the South Korean government is considering introducing a bill to regulate the opening of small supermarkets.

“Trading over the summer has been volatile, but the underlying trend is a slowing of top line value growths.  Food retailers continue to rely on promotions and price cuts to draw in shoppers, a strategy that seems to be working for most chains as penetration has increased,” said Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services at Nielsen.

Waitrose and Morrisons recorded the strongest growth in value sales during the twelve week period (11.4% and 8.1% respectively), while the launch of Tesco’s Clubcard in August has helped increase spend per visit by 5 percent as shoppers seek to maximize spending within the store.

“The poor weather resulted in shoppers making fewer shopping trips this year.  But with grocers increasing promotional activity, with 33 percent of sales this month being on promotion, we expect monthly growth going forward to be in the 4 to 5 percent range as food inflation continues to slow,” said Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services at Nielsen.

Of the top 9 grocers, Waitrose continued to perform well with double digit growth of 10.5 percent for the quarter and more than 11 percent in the last four weeks.  Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons continue to grow at the expense of smaller retailers, while Tesco has launched a new customer loyalty scheme to intensify the battle for shoppers.

“With shopper promiscuity increasing and loyalty levels falling over the longer term, the added benefits of Tesco’s Club Card 2 may do the trick in keeping Tesco customers loyal to the shop and ultimately spending more of their money there,” said Watkins.

“With a record of 32 percent of all sales being goods on offer in the four weeks to May 2009, retailers recognize that they need to show good value for money as a fundamental shift in consumer behavior has taken place over the past few months.  At face value, this will be good news for Asda, Tesco and the other discounters, but it is also an opportunity for all other retailers to get a bigger share of wallet of the recession-struck shopper,” said Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services at Nielsen.

% Share of Grocery market Spend, 12 Weeks Ending May 16, 2009

“Shoppers are now well versed with money saving strategies, making the most of price cuts and promotions with many also opting for retailer own labels, where growth is almost 6 percent,” said Mike Watkins, Senior Manager, Retailer Services at Nielsen.

To further extend the buying reach of their pounds and pence, shoppers are:

• Continuing to reduce the number of times they shop for groceries, with the average number of visits falling at all major retailers (except the Co-op)
• Shopping around for the best values versus staying with their regular retailer
• Shopping for small amounts more often

“Morrisons, Asda and now Sainsbury have pulled away from Tesco in terms of sales growth and are all attracting new shoppers.  Once in store, picking and choosing the best bargains, combined with overall shopper caution, has caused the amount that the average shopper spent in supermarkets over the last quarter to be lower than it was a year ago, Asda and Morrisons being the only exceptions,” said Watkins.

Read the full press release about first quarter 2009 UK grocery sales here.

“Big Players Think Small in Format Fights,” an article in Consumer Insight by Todd Hale, senior vice president, Consumer & Shopper Insights with Nielsen, outlines how the economy is affecting retail channels and what some retailers are doing to attract new customers. For example, the key grocery chains are launching smaller stores in urban areas with a focus on packaged fresh food offerings. Tesco launched the Fresh & Easy format in 2007, with plans to open 200 stores by the end of 2009, while Walmart is fine tuning its own small scale pilot, with a strong fresh and private label emphasis with their Marketside format. Safeway opened The Market at Vons in Long Beach, while Supervalue opened a prototype called Urban Fresh in the Chicago area. The stores feature upscale inventory in bright, well-organized layouts with sampling stations near fresh sections, a robust private label offering and designed to appeal to both those who like to cook from scratch and those who like prepared foods.

“From alternative formats to alternative merchandising and assortment ideas, 2008 proved that a marketing opportunity lies behind every perceived market downturn. If big stores no longer make economic sense, downsize the footprint. If consumers are cocooning and watching movies at home, bump up your DVD catalog. When competitors co-opt traditional product lines, diversify by adding services that distinguish your format and build loyalty,” said Hale.

To read more about format changes, channel trends,. ad spending and other ways retailers are evolving with the economy, view the full article here

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. 

View the press release.

According to Nielsen, the chain increased its market share from 14.9% a year ago to 15.6% during the last quarter — the retailer’s highest ever market share, aside from the Christmas 2007 season.

Asda’s performance (8.7% sales growth) during the most recent 12-week period ending November 1, 2008 easily bested the rest of the British grocery market, Nielsen reported Tuesday.  The chain showed especially strong growth during October, when the global financial crisis reached a boiling point.

Growth (by value) of food sales at British supermarkets continued to slow during the most recent 12-week period, dipping to 5.1%, versus the same period in 2007, according to Nielsen.

During the previous 12-week period ending October 4, food sales growth was slightly stronger in Britain (5.4%), despite especially weak September sales growth (4.5%).

“The topline growths at the Multiples are slowing, when they should, in fact, be accelerating,” Mike Watkins, senior manager, retailer services, Nielsen, noted.  “It’s looking like a tough Christmas ahead for food retailers.”

Among the top UK food retailers, Tesco remained the dominant value retailer, with a 28.1% share of grocery market spending during 12-week period ending November 1, 2008 — up 0.1% over the chain’s 28.0% share of value sales during the same period last year.

Morrisons continued to grow by more than 9% year over year for the quarter, but in the most recent four weeks, the chain’s growth dropped to under 7% year over year.

View the press release.

Flagging sales in September, when growth dipped to 4.5% — a full percentage point below August growth levels, drove the declines.

“Shoppers are still trading down,” Mike Watkins, senior manager, retailer services, Nielsen noted.  “Family shoppers in particular, are trying to save money, with 70% saying on they are looking to economize on grocery shopping — up from 63% in June.” 

Among the top UK food retailers, Tesco remained the dominant value retailer, with a 28.3% share of grocery market spending during 12-week period ending October 4, 2008 — up 4.8% over the chain’s 28.0% share of value sales during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Asda widened its lead in value sales over Sainsbury (13.9% share), achieving a 15.4% share of value food sales (and 8.3% year over year value growth) versus its 2007 share (14.7%).

Morrisons recorded the strongest year-over-year value sales growth of the top four food retailers (+9.6%), while Iceland showed the strongest overall growth (14.5%) during the 12-week period.

View the full press release.

Sales were strongest at large, out-of-town supermarkets, where 7% year-over-year growth was recorded.  In contrast, sales growth at large, centrally-located grocery stores slowed to just 1% year-over-year.

Food retailers who trade on value and price propositions also performed well.  Iceland saw 13% year-over-year sales growth, while Morrisons grew by 9.1% over the same three-month period last year. 

View the full press release.