Post-pandemic shopping habits analysis reveals increase for retailers’ brands, online grocery and delivery spike

04 Jul 2022 --- Nearly three of ten consumers are buying more “own brands” – products manufactured particularly for a retailer and bearing the retailer’s name – compared to the amount they purchased before the pandemic. 

These findings were released in a new report by the PLMA International Council, which stresses that the youngest participants in the survey – Gen Z and Millennials – increased their own label buying the greatest among age groups.

Prospects for growth are evidently looking good. Overall, four in ten consumers said that, over the next two years, they expect to buy more own brands than they do now.

The study authors underline that “Europeans will never shop the same for groceries”, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic brought significant shifts in how consumers purchase food and non-food products and that many of the most important changes are enduring.

The report reveals that own brands constitute up to half of consumers’ regular shopping baskets.In-house labels on the upward trend
“The purpose of the study, ‘Will Europeans Ever Shop the Same? Assessing consumers’ post-pandemic behavior,’ is to provide retailers and their own brand suppliers with the latest insights on European consumers so they can cooperatively develop a road map for private label development and marketing in the post-pandemic environment,” explains Peggy Davies, PLMA president.

The online survey collected responses to more than fifty questions from 6,500 participants spread equally across eight countries – France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It was conducted in April 2022.

Each respondent self-identified as the primary grocery shopper for their household.

It revealed that own brands constitute a big portion of consumers’ regular shopping baskets. Three of ten said when they buy groceries, more than half of their basket is comprised of own brand products.

An equal number said one-third to half of their regular order is made up of own brands.

In addition, it is clear that own brands have become “brands” in most consumers’ minds. When asked to compare private label with manufacturers’ brands, 60% considered the products equal, while 20% looked at own brands “more favorably” than they did manufacturers’ brands.

Compared to how they felt before the pandemic, 17% expressed “more confidence” now in the quality, value and performance of own brands.

Where to shop?
Supermarkets were the overwhelming choice as the favorite place to shop, according to the report.

Eight in ten participants identified supermarkets as the type of stores where they conducted their household’s regular grocery shopping.

Runner up were hypermarkets at 41%, followed by discounters (39%), local/convenience stores (35%), online sites (32%), specialty stores (17%) and direct-from-farmer/farmer shops (13%).

Meanwhile, cooking meals at home has increased since before the pandemic – a trend that is sustained even post-lockdown. Thirty percent of respondents now prepare meals more at home than they did before the pandemic.

At the same time, on-the-go meals are becoming more popular. A quarter of respondents consume three or more meals per week on-the-go.

Over the next two years, 26% expect to shop online “more” or “much more” often for their groceries.Nearly 55% consume one or more meals on-the-go. Overall, nearly half do not consume any meal on-the-go at all, and consumers in the Netherlands (62%) and France (60%) have the highest percentage of consumers who don’t consume such meals.

On-the-go eating is most popular among Gen Z, as 39% of them consume three or more meals per week on-the-go, compared to 34% of Millennials, 20% of Gen X and 9% of Boomers.

Accelerated e-commerce 
E-commerce is here to stay Across Europe, the report’s authors support. Over the last couple of years, the pandemic has given rise to mobile apps for convenient door-to-door grocery deliveries, such as Gorillas in the Netherlands, Flink in Germany and Turkey’s Getir.

While, not surprisingly, supermarkets were the overwhelming choice of respondents in the PLMA International survey as the main store for grocery shopping – some 5% indicated that online sites were their main source.

In response to a related question, one-third said that online sites were among the types of stores where they conducted at least some of their grocery shopping. Consumers reported that before the pandemic, about 80% of their grocery shopping was conducted in a brick-and-mortar store – and that figure today has decreased to 74%.

Over the next two years, 26% expect to shop online “more” or “much more” often for their groceries. 

Patterns in online shopping
Consumers are methodical when shopping for groceries online. Some 28% look at suggested cheaper alternatives of the item they picked, 25% work from a list of previously ordered items and go from there, 25% type in product description and go from there, 16% type in the supermarket’s own brand and product description, 15% type in national brand and product description, and 14% look at the “people often also order this product” promo alongside the item they want.

Looking at online services, 15% of respondents use meal box or recipe box delivery, a growth of five points compared to before the pandemic. The youngest consumers are the heaviest users, there is less use in older generations. For quick delivery, 9% of Boomers use the service while 31% of Gen Z do.

A similar pattern with meal box delivery was observed – only 5% of Boomers use it, 10% of Gen X and 22% of Millennials and 25% Gen Z.

But there is still room to grow with greater consumer education on e-services. An overwhelming number in the survey simply do not know about such services. 

Two of three do not know quick delivery and over three of four do not know meal box delivery, while half don’t know about supermarket delivery and six in ten are unaware of the click and collect method.

Not surprisingly, among generations, fewer than one in five Gen Z and Millennials say they have never shopped for groceries online, while one-third of Gen X and half of Boomers say they never have. 

By Benjamin Ferrer