This payout in 2022, a record for food, is explained by the 10% increase in prices, although the purchase of fresh products is decreasing
Never before have food prices risen as much as last year and never before have Spaniards spent so much money on their daily shopping basket. In total, households spent 105,000 million euros in 2022, which is 9.1% more due to the average price increase of 9.9%. Unprecedented inflation, which ended the year at an average of 8.4%, has taken its toll on household budgets. That’s according to the ‘Consumer Trends 2022’ report prepared by NielsenIQ, which collects real sales data across all channels such as hyper, super, traditional store, specialist and gas stations.
Despite inflation, demand remains almost stable and a slight decrease in total volume of 0.7% is therefore recorded, prompted by the resistance of packaged products, which managed to remain stable in volume despite a price increase of 10% ( 0.1%). The statistics in the report do not yet show the impact of the government-approved VAT reduction for basic foodstuffs such as bread (from 4% to 0%) or oil (from 10% to 5%) during these weeks.
Inflation has also significantly changed consumer habits. There is an increase in packaged food, but also drinks, refrigerated and frozen products and perfumery. However, the purchase of fresh products fell by 2.5%, with a price increase of 10.3%. Of the fresh products, fish and fruit and vegetables are the ones with the largest drop in demand: with 9.1% for fish, 5.5% for fruit and 3% for vegetables.
The report points out that this context has had a very relevant impact on mass consumption, leading to very high price awareness: seven out of ten buyers are price sensitive. 23% say they know the price of most of the products they buy and 48% say they know the prices of most items and notice when they change.
The change in behavior is also noticeable in the type of product Spaniards buy. Private label continues to gain ground and has a basket weight of 46%, representing above double-digit percentage growth, 16% from 2021, a trend similar to that of Europe.
As far as operators are concerned, Mercadona strengthens its leadership position and gains 0.5 points of market share in 2022, followed by Carrefour with 0.4 points more, while Lidl remains in third place. The behavior of the regional supermarkets is also striking, which together already have a market share of more than 15% of the total.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
