There has been an increase in the proportion grocery shoppers who claim they will do more focussed Christmas grocery shopping this year, with some 3 in 10 (30%) shoppers claiming they will carry out a dedicated Christmas food shop and almost 1 in 5 (18%) claiming they will stockpile food and alcohol in the run-up to Christmas.
Recent research on behalf of Retail Intelligence by Empathy Research, amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+, sought to understand planned shopping behaviour this Christmas.
This focus on Christmas specific grocery shopping means that there has been a reduction in the proportion of grocery shoppers who will do their normal shop and buy a few extra items (44% from 51%).
However, not all of this shopping will be conducted in the Republic of Ireland, with almost 1 in 5 (18%) grocery shoppers claiming to have already conducted or plan on conducting some Christmas grocery shopping in Northern Ireland this year, in line with 2017 levels (19%).
Almost 6 in 10 (56%) of those shoppers who will visit Northern Ireland for grocery shopping this year, claim they typically always visit Northern Ireland for Christmas grocery shopping.
There is just over a third (36%) who claim they go to Northern Ireland for grocery shopping but not every year, while 1 in 12 (8%) who plan on going to Northern Ireland for Christmas grocery shopping this year claim it will be their first time going.
Amongst those who will conduct a grocery shop in Northern Ireland this year, there are several factors at play influencing this decision, with cheaper alcohol prices (56%) and food prices (50%) to the fore. Almost half (48%) of those who will shop in Northern Ireland claim they do so because there is a better range of products available there.
For further information and more in-depth analysis on the shopping behaviour of grocery shoppers this Christmas, please contact Robbie Clarke at Empathy Research.
News by Reuters, edited by Donna Ahern Checkout. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
