Shoppers buying more items at discounters than some small supermarkets

We all know that more shoppers are visiting the discounters, but new research shows they are buying more items per visit than shoppers in the high street stores of some of the leading supermarkets.

According to the Him! High Streets research 2013, 41% of UK shoppers are now going to the discounters more than once a week. They are also increasing their basket size by buying more items per visit.

The research, which involved 6,200 face-to-face interviews with shoppers visiting small, high street supermarkets and discounters between 3,000 sq ft and 25,000 sq ft during October and November, shows that the average basket at Aldi contained 7.5 items and cost £17.92, while Lidl’s average of 7.2 items cost £17.83.

This compared with an average of 6.4 items in Asda’s small supermarkets (£21.69), 5.5 items at Sainsbury’s (£15.28), 5.2 at The Co-operative Group stores (£11.60) and just 4.2 items at Tesco Metros (£10.44). Only Waitrose, with an average of eight items costing £28.24, and Morrisons, with 7.9 items at £24.61 had a bigger basket size than the two leading discounters.

The average spend at Aldi is up 7% on last year and Him! insight manager Daron Gonzales said suppliers still needed to do more to cater for the discounters.

“The channel’s delivery of affordability and a much improved fresh offer has meant that for more and more shoppers it has become acceptable to add a discounter to their repertoire,” he said. “They have also invested heavily in getting their message across through advertising while expansion through new stores has made it much more convenient to visit them on a more regular basis.”