Earlier this year The Knowledge Bank (an initiative established by the Scottish Food and Drink partnership with aims to deliver vital market insights to the food and drink sector) commissioned us to undertake a survey of the Scottish population to provide updated insights on the factors impacting upon the population’s grocery shopping decisions, with a focus on food and drink made in Scotland, local produce and opportunities to shop local.
This research has now been published and is available to download on the Knowledge Bank portal, along with a wealth of other valuable market insights from across the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership.
Rising costs continue to have a significant impact on decisions
Perhaps unsurprisingly given high levels of inflation, over half of Scots stated that price and promotions have become more important to them when buying food and drink (78% and 71% respectively). However, it is also notable that freshness, avoiding unhealthy options and ease of preparation had also become more important for many in the face of increased costs (53%, 40% and 38% respectively).
How Scots shop and prepare meals has also changed in the face of increased prices. The ‘top 5’ most common actions taken to reduce spend on food and drink are as follows:
- Planning grocery shops more carefully (42%)
- Changing from buying branded products to supermarket own label (41%)
- Switching to lower cost retailers (38%)
- Planning meals more than before (34%)
- Cooking from scratch more than before (33%)
Other actions taken to reduce energy costs when preparing meals were also recorded with around a quarter using more energy efficient appliances such as air fryers to cook with (24%) and a similar proportion batch cooking meals more often (24%).
The demand for Scottish produce continues
Despite the impacts of rising costs on food and drink choices, the survey found no decrease in the desire of Scots to buy Scottish produce and, in particular, food and drink produced locally. Indeed 82% stated that they would like to be able to buy more food and drink produced in Scotland, no change from the result when a similar question was asked in the 2022 survey.
While the ‘top 5’ items more likely to be chosen over other options if they were made in Scotland were salmon, smoked fish, soft fruit, Scotch whisky and milk, many other types of food and drink also have an enhanced appeal if their Scottish origins are promoted.
The most common reasons given for preferring Scottish produce over food and drink made elsewhere were a desire to support the local economy, the produce being fresher, a lower carbon footprint and expectations of higher quality.
However, to meet their demand for more Scottish produce, consumers stated that they would like to see greater availability in shops, clearer labelling of produce made in Scotland (on labels and in store) and more competitive prices.
Local shops for local people?
Our research also explored Scots views regarding using local shops when shopping for food and drink and the potential pros and cons of using smaller, independents over larger companies such as supermarket chains.
Encouragingly most Scots recognise that using local shops is important as it supports their local economy (86%), make the area a nicer place to live (82%) and can boost their sense of community (80%)
However, a number of potential concerns over using smaller local shops were also raised including the potential that prices could be higher than (69%), that the range available in store would be more limited (44%) and some practical concerns such as difficulties parking (26%) or there being a lack of suitable shops in the local area (32%).
While our survey showed that currently the majority of frequent shopping is undertaken in supermarkets and normally by car, it’s also clear that many Scottish consumers have a desire to support local independent shops, especially if the range of products available appeals, the price is right and shops are within easy reach.
Extracts from the recently published Knowledge Bank report:
If you’d like to access the research referenced in this article and many other resources provided by the Knowledge Bank you can sign up for full access here or register for the Knowledge Bank’s Scottish Provenance webinar on 22nd November to hear more.