Supermarket habits are changing across the nation. I first came up with both the downshift challenge technique and name five or more years ago. The aim was to codify a way of dropping brands, and provide research into the savings it’d bring.
Now the system seems to be mainstream and the lexis does too. I remember trying to think of a name for downgrading supermarket products and in the end decided downshift challenge was simple and descriptive.
These days, it seems as if it’s been with us all along. The following is a press release put out this week by supermarket comparison site mysupermarket…
“2008 was a year in which shoppers faced steep rises in the price of their staple food items, far beyond the general rate of food inflation. mySupermarket.co.uk, the supermarket comparison site, has uncovered an increasing trend of ‘downshifting’: consumers swapping their favourite branded products for a supermarket own brand alternative, often surrendering long-standing brand loyalty to make significant savings.
The attached table gives a detailed insight into this recent trend, but to summarise:
- Pasta is the product people are most willing to downshift on with an 8% increase in the sales of own brand items since last year.
- Other items people are happy to downshift include crisps, tomato ketchup and cereal – with sales of own brand products up 4% on last year.
- Cola is one product which shoppers don’t seem to be willing to compromise on with 91% of sales going on branded, a figure which hasn’t changed in the last 12 months.
The items which have seen the greatest trend for downshifting are many of the staple items which have seen significant price rises.
“With shoppers seeing the price of their weekly shop rising, becoming a savvy shopper became more important than ever in 2008. Downshifting is a quick and easy way of saving money and is something which is becoming increasingly popular. There is a definite correlation between the areas where prices have risen sharply over the past year and where shoppers are downshifting and whilst there are certain products which shoppers seem unwilling to compromise on, many are surrendering their brand loyalty on favourites such as ketchup as they move to an own brand alternative.
Saving money doesn’t have to mean giving up our favourite products or deserting our chosen supermarket. By simply swapping brands or taking full advantage of special offers we believe shoppers can often save up to 20% on their shopping bill. The trend for downshifting is set to continue into 2009, but rather than shoppers having to trawl the aisles, they can input their weekly shop into mySupermarket.co.uk and the Price Checker tool will automatically highlight the ‘downshift’ item as well as like-for-like alternatives.”
Product | 2007 Own Brand (% sales) |
2008 Own Brand (% sales)
|
Change
|
Cola |
9% |
9% |
– |
Instant Coffee |
14% |
17% |
3% |
Crisps |
19% |
23% |
4% |
Ketchup |
21% |
25% |
4% |
Tea Bags |
23% |
26% |
3% |
Breakfast Cereal |
28% |
32% |
4% |
Bread |
35% |
36% |
1% |
Baked Beans |
35% |
38% |
3% |
Biscuits |
39% |
39% |
– |
Water |
43% |
45% |
2% |
Toilet Paper |
61% |
60% |
-1% |
Tinned vegetables |
62% |
63% |
1% |
Pasta |
56% |
64% |
8% |
Juice |
68% |
66% |
-2% |