With the nation's larger supermarkets reporting on their trading results, two things stood out about consumer behaviour and both suggest that it's not just the phones that are smart these days. When it comes to our food shopping it seems that the recession has brought out the frugal make-do-and-mend trait. Supermarkets have reported that while consumers continue to do the 'big shop' at out of town stores once a month or so, the trend seems to be for shoppers to focus their smaller, daily shops using either online suppliers or local stores. In addition, the big winners in the profits race are not, perhaps surprisingly, the middle range stores but those at the extremes, the discount superstores and quality stores. So are you a smart shopper?
1. Smart Shopping Basics
Online offers, discount vouchers and codes are everywhere these days. Retailers offer them to coupon sites and voucher sites in an attempt to boost sales. For online shoppers this means that offers are only a search engine search away and, before you buy, add the words "discount voucher" to your search term. Most supermarkets will offer a discount or cash-back deal when you first sign up along with regular internet-only discounts. If you'd prefer to do the 'big shop' in the comfort of your own home (and save on petrol) then internet supermarket shopping is for you.