Pandemic halts rise of top-up shopper, research shows

Research by consumer insights specialist Shoppercentric shows a 60% increase in a ‘main shop only’ approach and a similar decrease in the number of consumers rarely or never doing a main shop.

The 2021 Stock Take Report, at the start of the pandemic, shows ‘main shop only’ missions increased from 27% to 57% of chosen shopping styles. Although this has since slipped back to 43%, it suggests that while consumers may be edging back towards pre-pandemic trends, this may not fully happen until society returns to a more hectic lifestyle.

In January 2020, 17% of shoppers claimed that they completed ‘small shops only’, and this figure remains at just 6%, the research reveals.

Jamie Rayner, managing director at Shoppercentric, said: “Shopper behaviour has been disrupted because of influences both inside and outside the store. Shoppers may have been navigating unfamiliar stores, avoiding other shoppers, following one-way systems, and going through cleaning regimes. Outside the store, household consumption changes have driven the need to consider more meals, new ways to snack and support scratch cooking. Each in itself does not sound profound, but cumulatively they have added to the cognitive load on the shopper.”

Shoppercentric concludes that consumers need retailers to help “them to navigate well, to free up time for them to be inspired to fulfil their newer consumption needs, and, in so doing, to facilitate spontaneous and pleasurable shopping once again”.