Grocery shopping from a shoppers perspective

We live in Ilkley, a couple of empty nesters. Within a short drive we have access to most of the UK’s retailers. We do a lot of online shopping but never for groceries, we lost faith when one retailer substituted private label cola for Coke and another sage for rosemary.

I thought you might be Interested in our reasons for shopping where we do, like most people we shop a range of grocery retailers.

• For quality meat we go to one of two of our local butchers who supply from local farms. For everyday meat we’ll buy from any of the chains, similarly when we shop for fish.
• For general grocery we go to Booths, we love the fact they are a regional chain and they wear their Yorkshire/Lancashire roots on their sleeve.
• For quality ingredients we go to Waitrose. We even think Essentials are high quality.
• Morrisons Local is our emergency shop, we liked the idea of them supplying anything their local large store has but we’ve never used the facility. We’d buy more there if their meal solutions were more inspiring.
• We are regulars at M&S Food, a meal for two for £10 and we’ve never been disappointed.
• Then there’s Aldi, we lived in Germany for four years and shopped with them regularly but never do here. We probably chose Aldi because other German multiples were shockingly bad.
• We do shop at Tesco but only when convenience wins over the other criteria. On the topic of Tesco are we only ones who scan our card every visit but rarely redeem the coupons?
• I should mention JS, but we hardly ever find a reason to drive past the Waitrose, which is close by.

So what does it mean for retailers? Dare to be different and be famous for something.

Pop-up retailers: the next big thing

Pop-up retailers are tipped as being a huge contributor to the retail sector, as much as £2.1bn over the course of 2014.

The pop-ups occupy empty spaces, setting up temporary shops or fixtures for a brief period of time before moving on. These temporary retailers have been among the fastest growing sectors in the retail sector this year.

A study by EE, the digital communications business and CEBR, the economic consultancy returned staggering results for the growth of these mobile retailers, forecasting growth of 8.4% for next year, notably higher than the 3.4% growth expected for the high street.

However, these results also beg the question: coupled with the expectation of average consumer spending to grow from £110 to £120, could pop-up retailers be just what the high street needs to provide that welcomed boost as the warm weather that drove sales this summer will begin to fade? There are already 9,400 pop-up stores in existence in the UK but it’s likely that this number will rise over the course of 2014 and into 2015.

Online sales rise again in June, but slower than ever

New data from the IMRG and Capgemini has shown a decline in online sales in the UK for the month of June.

Whilst online retail sales rose again by 9% for the month of June, it was still the lowest rate of annual growth year-on-year since July 2013 as warm weather and an unsuccessful month for British sport took the blame for the results.

Also on the increase was basket conversion rates by 4.8%, raising the new average basket value to £83.

It wasn’t all good news for sales results however, June 2014 saw a 5% month-on-month decline compared with May, meaning it’s the largest fall in sales between the months of May and June since 2008.

Capgemini vice president, Chris Webster said: “The figures reveal just how influential a turbulent economy can be on our shopping behaviour.”

Low interest rates spark a huge boost in car sales

The UK car sale market now sees a collosal 83% of purchases made using credit.

The recent survey by Black Horse, part of Lloyds Banking, says buyers have borrowed, or will borrow, at least as much as the value of the vehicle they’re purchasing.

The figures are in contrast to those across Europe where sales have been in decline over recent years.

Perhaps even more revealing is the fact that the number of cars bought on credit has risen sharply since the beginning of the recession.

Pre-recession saw around 50% of all vehicles bought on finance, compared to 75% in the first eight months of 2013.

Low interest rates are an undoubted factor in the appeal of finance but there are some analysts who question the fragile nature of sustainability of sales if rates were to rise.

April 2014 saw an 8% rise in sales and the first four months of the year were 12.5% up on the same period in 2013.