Last year, the amount of sales in grocery stores fell exceptionally for the second year in a row.
of the S group share of the grocery market grew last year as the only trade group, when the price reductions initiated by the group seemed to please consumers struggling with their weakened purchasing power.
According to the grocery store register published by the market research company Nielsen IQ on Wednesday, S Group's market share increased by 1.3 percentage points to 48.3 percent last year.
The group's grocery sales grew by 8.9 percent from the previous year, i.e. faster than the market. The growth was primarily driven by Prisma and S-market, whose sales grew faster than the average value development, Nielsen IQ says in its release.
K Group's market share decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 34.3 percent and Lidl's by 0.2 percentage points to 9.6 percent. Grocery sales of both trade groups grew by less than four percent.
K Group's market share has been under pressure in recent years after inflation accelerated and consumers' purchasing power began to shrink.
As a whole the sales volume of grocery stores weakened exceptionally for the second year in a row.
Last year, the volume of grocery sales decreased by 1.1 percent from the previous year, when the volume plunged by 5.2 percent. It was the biggest drop in the more than 40-year measurement history of Nielsen IQ's store register.
However, due to rapid inflation, the value of sales last year increased six percent from the previous year and was 22.9 billion euros.
Although the rise in consumer prices slowed down last year in the second year, the price of food remained the main factor influencing the purchase decision of grocery store customers last year.
S group's grocery store manager Sampo Päällysahon according to that, last year the group tried to “systematically stick to an affordable shopping basket”.
“Last year, the S group was the first to reduce the price of food already in March for all Xtra products, and the price reductions were continued in September and in January of this year,” says Päällysaho in the trade group's press release.
The K-group has emphasized throw-in offers and low-cost own products, but the main competitor's openings have also forced it to lower the prices of its products, although it has not made as much fuss about them as the S-group.
On the other hand, Lidl, which emphasizes affordability, canceled its opposition to bonus cards last year and announced before the turn of the year that it would start a new loyalty program.
Grocery the value of online shopping last year was 626 million euros, which was a growth of 6.7 percent.
The growth was lower than the previous year, when it was 9.4 percent. The Norwegian company Oda, which boosted the online shopping of grocery stores, closed its operations in Finland last year.
Online shopping accounts for less than three percent of grocery sales.
The data of the grocery store register produced by Nielsen IQ is compiled annually in cooperation with trade groups and individual operators. The register has been produced since 1978.
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