Convenience store meal shop time 'half that of supermarkets'

People spend half the time shopping for a meal in a convenience store than at a supermarket, research from IGD and convenience store retailer McColl’s has revealed.

The average shop in a convenience store takes 25 minutes versus an average of 46 minutes (including travel time) across other grocery channels.

The research said this trend was helping neighbourhood convenience stores take on other grocery channels, such as supermarkets.

The data, collated from more than 1,800 shopping trips, found that consumers spend 16.7 hours, equivalent to one waking day, shopping for groceries each month.

The majority of this time - 9.8 hours - is spent travelling to stores, while 6.9 hours is spent shopping in-store.

Recent IGD ShopperVista research showed that the growth in convenience store shopping was being led by post-millennials. Over (54%) of this group said they go to their nearest store even if it is more expensive. The value placed on time led to one in five (19%) saying they now do the majority of their food and grocery shopping at their neighbourhood store. This is more than double compared with those aged 26 and over (7%).

“As consumers’ lives become busier, they are always looking to find ways to save time on everyday tasks, such as grocery shopping,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of McColl’s.

“And as convenience stores have upped their game when it comes to product quality and customer experience, shoppers have turned to them to avoid long travel times and queues in store.”

James Walton, chief economist, IGD, said: “Convenience is a large and growing market, with store sales totalling £37.5bn last year. Our research underlines the fact that convenience ranges have changed rapidly in recent years and the sector can now meet more shopper needs than ever before. As our lifestyles change, we see that customers place an increasing importance on the value of time, and convenience retailers undeniably have a key role to play in this area.”