One in five (20%) Irish adults plan to make a trip to Northern Ireland to do some grocery shopping in the run up to Christmas this year. Recent research on behalf of Retail Intelligence by Empathy Research, amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+, sought to understand motivations for this behaviour and who is most likely to engage in cross-border grocery shopping.
Those most likely to claim they will visit Northern Ireland for grocery shopping are aged 45-54, with almost 3 in 10 (27%) claiming they will do so this year, while almost a quarter (24%) of those aged 55-64 also claim they will grocery shop in the North this year. Regionally, 1 in 3 (34%) of those living in Connacht/Ulster will shop across the border, with almost a quarter (23%) of Dublin residents also claiming they will do so.
Of those who plan to make a trip North, just over 4 in 10 (42%) claim they make this trip each year, with a similar proportion (43%) claiming they have made the trip before but would not make it every year. For almost 1 in 7 (15%) of those visiting Northern Ireland this year for grocery shopping, it will be their first time making such a trip.
The better exchange rate currently being experienced from the fallout of Brexit, is the main motivation for grocery shopping in Northern Ireland this year with almost 2 in 3 (64%) of those going cross-border citing this. However, almost 7 in 10 (69%) who will shop in Northern Ireland claim that they will do so because prices for food and/or alcohol are cheaper there, even without the impact of Brexit. This perception is driven primarily by alcohol prices, with some 6 in 10 (61%) going cross-border claiming alcohol is cheaper there, even without the impact of Brexit. 1 in 5 (20%) claim they will combine grocery shopping with other Christmas shopping.
For more information and extra analysis relating to this piece of research, including products most likely to be purchased cross-border, please contact Robbie Clarke at Empathy Research.
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