Promotions are becoming increasingly important to Australian grocery shoppers, according to research by Woolworths.
The Australian chain has found that more than one third of items placed in trolleys at its stores are purchased while on promotion.
This number has risen by 10 per cent on last year, as shoppers become increasingly responsive to sales, vouchers, and other deals.
One in four Australian shoppers are buying half their entire food and non-alcoholic beverage shops on promotion.
Shoppers in Western Australia, South Australia, and NSW are more markedly more likely to indulge in a deal than those in other states.
The Woolworths Trolley Trends report was produced using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census, and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Tjeerd Jegen, director of Woolworths supermarkets, says the report paints a picture of a drastically different Australian grocery shopper to 25 years ago.
“There is no question that Australia has changed substantially in the past 25 years. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the way we eat,” he says.
Structural changes impacting the grocery basket include: the evolving family unit, children living at home for longer, and the population’s lower European heritage.
For instance, rising food costs per household are dramatically rising, in reflection of the number of children living with parents well into their 20s, says the study.
The study found households headed up by 48 to 49 year olds spend $3548 more on food and non-alcoholic drinks than the average Aussie household.
“Meet the modern packed-to-the-rafters family household, where the kids stick around for longer,” says the report.
“The household food and beverage budget expands and distorts for older households as a consequence.”
The report also declared that the traditional weekly stockpile grocery shop is “dead”, with Australians shopping at more diverse intervals.
Pre-boomers are more likely to shop on a Friday, with baby boomers, Gen X, millenials, and teenage Australians preferring the weekend.
