Food: Greek retail trade turnover at +9.1% in first 4 months – Turn to the private label

Organized food retailing continued its positive course during the four months of 2023, based on the latest data from NielsenIQ and having now overcome the impact of Easter seasonality at the end of April. Compared to the corresponding period last year, organized food retail increased by +9.1%, however this growth is still inflationary, with volumes declining, around -3.5%. At category level, this growth is driven by food and beverages, both fresh (+8.9%) and standardized (+9.3%), mainly due to their significant contribution to the average basket of the Greek household, in relation to non-food categories.

Price hikes

In this highly inflationary environment, and based on recent findings from NielsenIQ surveys, Greek consumers seem, in the vast majority (97% of respondents), to have clearly perceived the increase in the prices of products sold through supermarkets. Trying to cope with this, 68% say they will cut unnecessary spending and luxuries and buy only the essentials, while 1 in 3 say they will now choose cheaper brands.

The above statements seem to be confirmed by NielsenIQ’s sales data, as on the one hand there is a decrease in sales in categories of secondary importance, such as for example mouthwashes (-8.2%) or furniture care products (-5.1 %). At the same time, the value share of private label products continues to move upward, reaching an all-time high of 25% of the total market, with consumers stating that they choose Private Labels not only for their relatively low price ( 58% of the respondents), but also because they are of the same quality as the branded ones, in a percentage of over 75%.

Focusing our analysis further on private label products it is noteworthy that while on average they have increased their price more than twice as compared to branded products, at the same time they have managed to maintain their sales volumes without showing losses, which proves the shift of consumers, in many cases, to low-cost alternatives, which will minimize their overall “out of pocket”.