AU: Supermarkets dominate fruit and vegetable trade

Over 1.5 million Australian grocery buyers (14+) purchase fruit and vegetables from a market or stal…

Over 1.5 million Australian grocery buyers (14+) purchase fruit and vegetables from a market or stall during an average week—but even the majority of these locally and organically minded, anti-GM, farmer-friendly shoppers take their totes to a supermarket’s produce section too, new retail data from Roy Morgan Research shows.

11% of grocery buyers bought fresh fruit and vegetables at a market or stall in an average seven days in the 12 months to March 2015, unchanged over the past few years. But for most of them, the brightly lit convenience of the supermarket remains a lure: 54% also bought fruit and vegetables at a supermarket, including 29% at Coles and 25% at Woolworths.

Overall, 12.3 million Australians (87% of grocery buyers) buy fresh fruit and veg during the week. 10.2 million buy produce at a supermarket (72%), up from 8.8 million (68%) in 2011.

A reverse of the inclination toward Coles among market shoppers, Woolworths has a slight lead among the general grocery-buying population. 5.2 million (36%) buy fruit or veg at Woolworths in an average week, while 4.7 million (33%) do so at Coles.

Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“It’s a clear indication of supermarkets’ ever-increasing dominance of the category that even people shopping at produce markets during the week can’t help but find themselves also buying some fruit and veg on their next supermarket trip.

“Those buying their weekly fruit and veg at a market stall tend to be socially aware, higher-earning younger couples in their late-20s and early-30s, often without kids. They enjoy cooking, eating healthily and trying new things. They are cautious about genetic modification and almost 50% more likely than the average to try to buy organic food when possible.

“To be truly competitive and generate satisfaction and long-term loyalty, supermarkets need to know not just what shoppers look like, do and buy once inside but where else they go, and why. Only by combining external, all-inclusive and multi-channel research with internally collected data can retailers get a more comprehensive picture of their fruit and veg consumers in order to build strategies to attract and target them.”