Grocery stores and their prices have been headline news in Canada for the past year or so with many Canadians concerned about what they perceive as ‘price gouging’ by the big supermarket chains.
A recent survey by Leger, Inflation at the Grocery Store, sheds some light on what consumers are thinking and feeling these days.
Key highlights from the survey about grocery prices in Canada include:
- Canadians generally attribute the increase in grocery prices to global economic phenomena (such as global inflation and supply chain issues) (27 per cent), followed by attempts by grocery chains to increase profit margins (26 per cent), and the federal government (23 per cent). Quebecers are more likely to attribute the price increase to global economic phenomena (36 per cent), while Albertans are more likely to attribute it to the federal government;
- Two thirds of Canadians (64 per cent) believe that the rate of inflation in groceries is getting worse, compared to 28 per cent who believe it is about the same, and five per cent who believe that grocery inflation is improving. Respondents living in the Atlantic provinces (77 per cent) are more likely to think that the situation has worsened;
- Nearly a quarter of Canadians (23 per cent) found the grocery rebate from last July helpful, while more than half (52 per cent) did not find it helpful, and 20 per cent say they were not aware of the rebate. Canadians with an annual income of less than $40,000 are more likely to have found the rebate helpful (33 per cent);
- Three quarters of Canadians (72 per cent) believe that the federal government should do more to help Canadians with the rising cost of groceries, against 19 per cent who believe it is not their role, and eight per cent who are unsure. Canadians with an annual income of less than $40,000 (78 per cent) are more likely to think the government should help, and Canadians with an annual income of $100,000 (26 per cent) or more are more likely to think that it is not the government’s role; and
- Half of Canadians (52 per cent) believe that the arrival of new competitors in Canada will be helpful in reducing grocery prices, while a third (34 per cent) believe it will not be helpful.
Luc Dumont, Vice President of Insights for Leger, said the most surprising thing to him was the fact that almost as many Canadians feel that grocery chains themselves are responsible as general global economic phenomena for the elevated prices.
“Something like that to me is both a threat to the grocery industry reputation as a whole obviously. And there has been a lot of sort of negative media around certain chains. But at the same time, I think it’s an opportunity with the right messaging on promotions that they have and the right messaging on maybe price increases that they have to show that they’re doing the right thing both for the consumer and themselves,” said Dumont.
“Consumers understand that businesses are businesses and they need to succeed. But at the same time I think there is an opportunity with clear messaging that steps are being taken where they are, to be very clear with them and very vocal about them.”
Dumont said consumers are willing to knock on more doors.
“They’re willing to now not just go to Loblaws for certain things that they love from Loblaws but then go to No Frills or Food Basics for some of their other needs. So that diversification of retail visits is happening,” he said. “So trying to keep people within your ecosystem is important.
“Certainly we’re seeing that consumers are switching up their shopping habits. They’re heading to more budget-friendly stores. They might start buying certain categories at stores where they previously had not. If you think about a place like Dollarama for example,we’re seeing because they visit more stores start to realize that there are certain categories at some of these budget-friendly stores that they hadn’t previously discovered and then become more open to buying them because they’re seeing the benefit of saving money.
“Inflation is definitely reshaping how we shop in general but even more specifically in the way we buy groceries and where we buy them and where we buy certain products versus others.”
