Trolley dashes for own-brands step up as shoppers cut costs

Originally Published by The Daily Express

Written by Emily Braeger

Cash-strapped shoppers are heading to budget supermarkets for cheaper own-brand labels in a bid to off-set rising costs.

The changing habits come as food inflation rose to a 42-year high of 14.6 per cent last month.

More than half (51 per cent) of consumers want to reduce their outlay at the tills, according to Toluna’s Global Consumer Barometer Study.

Shoppers are dismayed by price hikes of brands such as a 750g tub of Lurpak butter spread, which went up by 33 per cent in July compared with a year ago.

And 42 per cent of consumers say they plan to switch to own-label products. Experts are warning the most recognisable branded foods could become a thing of the past as inflation skyrockets. Jane Hawkes said even the likes of Heinz, makers of family favourites baked beans and tomato ketchup, could be ditched.

SHe said: “Shoppers are doing everything they can to reduce the cost of a weekly grocery shop.

“To retain customer loyalty, big-labeled brands need to freeze or reduce prices, take the short-term hit and be the brand can count on.

“Failure to do so is short-sighted at the very least and fatal at worst.”

Some 31 per cent of those surveyed said they will move to budget stores Aldi and Lidl. Both rely on own-label lines for 90 per cent of sales and are the fifth and sixth-biggest chains respectively.

It comes as retail sales fell more than expected last month with squeezed shoppers now buying less than before the pandemic, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.