to think most people just go to their nearest supermarket?

[stripeypillowcase]

wrt christmas profit result.

I don't think people switch supermarkets a lot. or do they?

The closest shop to me (30 seconds walk) is a One Stop. Two minutes away is a Booths, another minute and there’s an Aldi. Five minutes walk away is a Sainsbury’s.

I avoid One Stop, rarely go to Sainsbury’s, mostly shop in Booths, but always pop to Aldi for something when I visit Booths.

I never shop in the car, unless it’s Sunday and I forgot to get stuff for packed lunches- then I nip up to M&S at a garage, 10 minutes away.

I do Lidl and Tesco, plus the wholefood shop and the butcher. I get a few bits from Home Bargains, too

I get my weekly shop delivered from whoever has the cheapest/most convenient slots and what I need that particular week. For in between shops I can pass around 6 different supermarkets depending which route I take home from work. So I choose my route accordingly...

Where I live in London we are so surrounded by Sainsbury’s that it’s actually a bit sinister. One big one and all my nearest supermarket convenience stores are Sainsbury’s locals. Spooky. There is a Lidl which I go to specifically to buy oats in paper bags. Without a car there’s not much choice. Mostly shop online Tesco (as they went cattier bag free) and occasionally ocado as Tesco don’t sell everything I want to buy.

I regularly use different supermarkets . Depends on where I am and how on foot/ car

I live near a Morrison’s, so would pop in there for top ups, but I get my main shop delivered from Tesco as they do the monthly delivery pass that works out cheaper, and their subs don’t tend to be too daft. I like M&S for a treat, and Lidl’s bakery, but couldn’t do a big shop at either.

We go to a Lidl and Aldi not far from our house and an Asda or Tesco where we have to drive .

I shop all over as there are branded items I want that are only available from specific supermarkets.

I go to Aldi as it is the cheapest but I also visit other supermarkets all over my town.

Sometimes I want something specialist so I go to Waitrose, I go to Tesco for my dog food and Morrison's because I enjoy their deli/cake counters and this Saturday I'm off to market as I've not been for a while.

Depends on my mood and what I need/want.

The only one I don't bother with is Sainsbury's because I find them overpriced and uninspiring.

If I'm doing a big shop I'll go to Tesco's/ there 2 in opposite directions but equal distances away- then if I want something and I'm walking I'll go to the mini Sainsbury's. I've never seen a Morrison's or an Asda near where I live

I don't shop at the same place very often. Usually every time I go past a supermarket I stop for something. Nappies I get from one supermarket, wipes I get somewhere else, and there's a cake I like that another one sells, and I prefer the washing powder at another. I also like trying new products. Often it's to do with whether I need to stop somewhere else at that retail park, because most of the supermarkets near me have something like a chemist, or a hairdressers, or a clothes shop, or a restaurant, or bowling, or whatever, and I do also go specially to places having a particular sale (like Lidl and Aldi's best buys).

We've got all of them within 10 minutes of us but do online shopping as it's easiest with 2 under 2 😊

Morrison’s is our closest and probably the supermarket chain I dislike the most. I’ll shop there if I. Can’t be bothered to go elsewhere.

I tend to shop at Sainsburys the most, M&S for specific things, sometimes do an online shop with Waitrose but shop the offers. Lidl for specific bits - love their croissants. My house is based in the middle of a few retail parks/supermarkets so I’ve got my pick of all of them really

Depends on what we need and whose turn it is to do the shopping. My DH does most of it as his work is 2 minutes away from a Lidl, however they don't stock the non dairy milk my younger children need so then we go to whichever supermarket that sells it is closest to our plans for the day

My nearest supermarket is probably Morrisons, but I hardly ever go there as I find it expensive. I'll go to Aldi which is a 5 minute drive from there, or Asda which is 5 minutes extra if I use the bypass.

I do live 15-20 minutes from the town so an extra 5 mins isn't much.

Hi everyone, food retail questions always brings out my inner geek! I have worked in food retail for 20 years, head office roles, buying, customer insights and strategy.

1. The main criteria for most people for choosing their shop /supermarket is location. It may not necessarily be the closest but could be the most convenient coming home from work or the one that you do have to pass through those annoying traffic lights.

The next 2 criteria are close together and mainly depend on your finances

1. Quality
2. Price / Value for money

Most people say quality is number 2.

Most supermarkets are after that weekly big shop but actually our habits are changing and we are going more frequently and as a result spending less per trip.

Another thing that is often cited is that people shop at various shops 'to get the best deal. ' In virtually all cases, this is simply not true, to get the truly cheapest shop, it is better to go to 1 shop and buy 95% own label with a few heavily discounted brands. Shopping around rarely has any financial benefit, maybe a few pounds at most, but what you save in pence will be offset by increased petrol cost and crucially your valuable time.

There are lots of other factors people cite when choosing a supermarket but the 3 above are the most important.
Feel free to ask queries

Weekly Riverford delivery of organic vegetables, bread, eggs & milk.
Big Ocado shop about fortnightly.
Top-up shop usually from Sainsbury's (avoid Tesco although it's closer as I don't like their ethics or quality), or Waitrose or M&S if I happen to be near one - but don't have those closer than a 20-minute drive & wouldn't make a special journey. M&S mainly for treats!

very interesting kate

this sort of confirms my suspicion.

Getting the best deal and being the absolute cheapest is not the same though if you don't like the own brand version. Most people are fortunate that they don't have to get the absolute cheapest possible shop, so they're prepared to pay extra to buy food that they actually like. So they're not aiming to get the cheapest shop they can, but buy the things they want, at the best price.

Shopping around doesn't necessarily take any longer either because people realise that you don't have to do all the shopping by visiting multiple supermarkets in one trip and you can simply alternate and stock up.

So if I like Morrisons soup and pizza and Asda meat and eggs, I go to Morrisons one week and buy 2 weeks worth of soup and pizza and the next week go to Asda and buy 2 weeks worth of meat and eggs.

Massively simplified example obviously, but that's what I would assume that most people do. You just put the extra pizza, meat and anything else that won't last more than a few days in the freezer.

Most/all of the supermarkets and retail in general seem to be reporting poor Christmas sales results.

Perhaps it is just that endless growth simply isn't possible and sales will now be flat or decline due to much greater awareness about not being wasteful due to environmental concerns and also that many people haven't had pay rises recently while other bills have continued to rise so they simply don't have the money to spend on groceries, clothes, technology and household goods, so are scaling back.

i definitely know people that switch to M&S/Waitrose for everything at Christmas.

No, we go to a much further one every other week than the same brand that is local as the local one is smaller, the larger one had more choice. There are several different different brand supermarkets of varying size much closer but we prefer the brand we go to.

Which ever supermarket has what we need .when we must ,with the least pesticides etc, plus used to use Riverford veg boxes, but they used to much plastic , great to have spuds carrots in brown paper bags but when our tomatoes and celery where turning up in plastic alongside the news letter from guy Watson banging on about bad farming practices it became ridiculous, sad very sad

I generally go to Morrison's which is the closest supermarket but will make a special trips to Sainsbury's, Tesco's & Asda for particular stuff and I often pop in to Waitrose near my ILs when we visit because there isn't one anywhere near where we live and they stock some stuff I cannot get elsewhere.

I go to Aldi which is 17 miles away. There's a small Tesco (bigger than express but still small) 6 miles away but it's more expensive than Aldi. Plus the fuel is 10p more near the Tesco than it is near the Aldi so I do that at the same time I.