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Trends in Food Shopping Market Assessment 2008
Key Note Publications Ltd, May 2008, Pages: 111
According to National Statistics, in 2007, there were 55,540 grocery retailers servicing the UK's demand for food and drink through nearly 103,000 outlets. There were also more than 1,000 street markets, in excess of 500 farmers' markets and 4,000 farm shops. However, it is indisputable that food retailing in the UK is dominated by four major grocery chains — Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's and Morrisons — with one growing sales largely at the expense of another. While their out-of-town superstores still flourish, they are increasingly encroaching on the convenience sector with small formats on the high street. Such is their, and particularly Tesco's, apparent dominance of the UK grocery market that they are the subject of an inquiry by the Competition Commission, which will publish its final conclusions in May 2008.
These larger grocery multiples are returning to the high street in recognition of the effects that changing lifestyles are having on shopping habits. A rise in the number of smaller households (which have little need to shop in bulk) increased pressure on leisure time, families eating different foods at different times, lack of forward planning and an established trend towards snacking all contribute to a return to `top-up' shopping. Another major change in shopping habits is the advent of Internet shopping. Tesco.com claims to be the world's largest Internet grocery website, but selling online is also an invaluable route to market for producers, thus avoiding the retailer in the middle.
According to the Expenditure & Food Survey 2006/2007, the proportion of average weekly household expenditure on food and non-alcoholic drink fell from 33% in 1957 to 10.3% in 2006. It represented the largest component of household spending in 1957, when the top ten items in terms of expenditure included four food and beverage items (meals bought away from home, fresh milk, poultry and other undefined meat). In 2006, the top ten items of household expenditure included just one food item, restaurant and café meals. The staple meal of meat and two vegetables in 1957 has, to a great extent, been replaced by more varied fare, such as curry and pasta, while health concerns have helped chicken to become more popular than red meat. Original consumer research for this report, examining the factors that influence people's choice of where to shop, found that a wide choice of produce was more important to respondents than low prices.
In recent years, a trend towards reducing fat, sugar, carbohydrates, calories and salt intake has been evident, and a newer trend has developed towards `maximising' the intake of vitamins, minerals, whole grains, omega oils and antioxidants. This would suggest that the UK is adopting healthy eating habits, yet the evidence seems to show otherwise. According to a report from the Cabinet Office, entitled Food: An Analysis of the Issues, attitudes towards healthy eating and the environment are not being matched by spending patterns. People may aspire to culturally desirable activities such as cooking a meal from basic ingredients and controlling children's eating habits, but good intentions are not always put into practice. According to the report, the average UK diet includes excessive fat, salt and added sugar, but not enough fruit, vegetables and oily fish. Obesity is on the increase and with it comes the emergence of diet-related ill health. The report concluded that `Existing patterns of food consumption will result in our society being loaded with a heavy burden of obesity and diet-related ill health'.
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