What factors influence shopper choice in a town with many low price operators? Julian Hunt goes back to his home town to find out Thanks to those blasted milk ads, my home town of Accrington is better known for its football team than the fact it was the birthplace of the spinning jenny. Sadly, Accrington Stanley is today a shadow of its former self, currently third in the Unibond premier division, while the cotton firms have all but disappeared and the light engineering base has gone too. Don't be fooled by the fact the borough of Hyndburn, of which Accrington is part, has an unemployment rate of just 2.6%, compared with 7.4% in 1992. This bald statistic hides the fact that thousands of well paid, full-time jobs have been replaced over the past decade by a low wage economy in which plenty of folk are forced to hold down at least two part-time jobs to make ends meet. Little wonder that Accrington has, like much of this part of Lancashire, become a Mecca for the discounters. Figures from TNS Superpanel show that the hard discounters enjoy a 4.1% share of grocery spending in Lancashire ­ compared with 3.1% nationally ­ with Aldi doing the most business out of the three. There's always been a Kwik Save in town. Asda, Marks and Spencer and Iceland are also well established. But these stores have been joined in the last two years by Aldi, Lidl, Netto, Farm Foods and a small Jack Fulton's freezer centre. This influx has also seen a Poundstretcher, Weigh & Save, Home & Bargain, Matalan and Peacocks opening for business. And all these discounters are crammed into the town centre, along with more traditional outlets, a fully let Arndale centre, a smattering of independent retailers and a busy market. So why have the discounters moved in with such force? Common sense would suggest that with Blackburn, Manchester and Preston a short car ride away, Accrington had no choice but to evolve into a centre providing local shopping for local people with low disposable incomes. That argument is supported by one interesting statistic. More than one third of Accrington households don't have a car ­ and this in a town where almost half the people are of an age where they should, in theory, be in full-time work. Clearly, they're not going to be making any quick trips to the Trafford Park complex in Manchester. Instead, they trog into town to do their shopping. And, judging by the taxis queuing up near the Kwik Save in Union Street, many of them then take a cab home. You just can't escape the fact price has become the key criterion for shoppers in the region. Pick up a copy of the local rag, and you find it stuffed with gaudy leaflets promoting low prices at Asda, Farm Foods and Kwik Save. Turn on the TV, and you see an ad for Farm Foods. In the streets you are bombarded by pricing messages. Even M&S has gondola ends promoting extra value products. Talk to shoppers and you quickly realise this is exactly what the majority of them want. But what makes people choose one hard discounter over the other? Why go to Aldi, when Kwik Save is just over the road? Why walk past Asda to shop at Lidl? Why bother with Farm Foods when you've got Iceland? Convenience of location is not a major factor. With the exception of Lidl, a short distance from the centre near a dual carriageway, all the discounters are clustered in the heart of town. Not surprisingly, shoppers in the town are a very price conscious bunch. And most seem to recognise that prices in the discounters are broadly similar. Some said they occasionally shopped around to cherrypick deals, and others admitted they readily switched from one chain to another whenever it was perceived to have become cheaper. But on the whole, shoppers stick with one discounter over another because they prefer the quality of its range. And in the case of Kwik Save and Netto, that's largely to do with the fact these two chains sell recognised brands rather than tertiaries alone. The limited range on offer in Aldi, Lidl and Netto means they are often seen by shoppers as the place to stock up on core groceries, with Asda the place to buy fresh products and Farm Foods chosen for having the best value frozen foods in town. The arrival of Aldi, Lidl, Netto, et al would not appear to have dented Asda's hold on the town's grocery scene. At worst, it is used by fans of the discounters to complement the basic fare they can buy in those stores. But Asda's car park was already busy by 10am on a Monday morning (as was Aldi's around the corner) and the majority of the customers were mums doing a big post weekend shop, who said they chose the multiple because it had the best range in town and keen pricing. Iceland was also pretty hectic, while Lidl and Netto were noticeably quieter than Aldi, which was the busiest of the hard discounters. Our price study shows just how competitive Asda remains in what is clearly a highly competitive town. The survey ­ while rough and ready ­ clearly identifies the lines on which food retailers continue to benchmark each other's prices (bread, beans, butter and tomatoes). And it also saw Kwik Save provide the cheapest basket. Kwik Save was also the only discounter in town with a significant Asian customer base ­ and this in a town where non-white ethnic groups accounted for 9.5% of the population at the time of the last census in 1991. Store manager Mark Taylor thinks one reason for winning their custom is that he has Asian members of staff who are able to help out any shoppers who have trouble with English. As well as this extra customer service, another draw may be the fact Kwik Save allows customers to buy its special offers in bulk. Its rivals limit what can be bought and have signs warning they will do all they can to prevent traders from reselling their goods. {{COVER FEATURE }}

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