• According to INSEE, food prices have increased by 15.8% in one year due to inflation.
  • Shunned by Covid, hypermarkets and supermarkets have been able to reconnect with consumers by offering promotions.
  • Has this increase in footfall been to the detriment of specialized food shops?

15.8% in one year. This is the increase noted by INSEE, between March 2022 and March 2023, on food prices. The explanation can be summed up in one word: inflation. But as in any crisis, some players are doing well, starting with mass distribution. The sector, shaken by the decline in footfall during the Covid-19 crisis, has multiplied initiatives for purchasing power, especially with the anti-inflation quarter. The operation, initiated by the government, makes it possible to freeze prices on certain food products. A look back at this renewed activity with Franck Lehuédé, consumer specialist at Crédoc, the Research Centre for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions.

With Covid, consumers were shunning supermarkets. How to explain their return to grace?

By the tariffs charged there in this context of economic crisis. In addition to the price freeze of certain products with the anti-inflation quarter, there are regular promotional operations and discounts offered by the loyalty card system. The hyper and super have also been able to find discount prices and they have the advantage of having wide ranges in terms of price. You can find products of national brands, usually more expensive and products of first prices. This will attract more consumers, because they will be able to choose products according to their means. They were able to reconnect with some of the clientele who frequented them less regularly.

What strategies are in place to lower prices?

Large retailers minimize internal management costs within the company so that the gap between the price bought and the price sold is as small as possible. These strategies are also found in premium products, especially with fuel. These gas stations are often the cheapest in the neighborhood.

Is this increase in footfall in hypermarkets and supermarkets to the detriment of local shops?

After very good years during the pandemic, footfall in local shops has dropped slightly in 2022. At the time of the pandemic, some consumers rediscovered these businesses around the corner for fear of going to hypermarkets. But they now have a tight budget and they go there less often. Over the year 2023, however, attendance remained stable and, above all, it is still above the level before the health crisis.

Consumers are increasingly moving towards discounts. How do you explain this change?

This change is explained by purchasing power. Consumers have wondered how to react to such inflation. We hadn't experienced such a shock since the 70s. The price positioning of independent businesses is higher than that of hyper and super. This is why the hard-discount model, food sales like Action and anti-waste stores are very popular with consumers.

Biocoop, placed in receivership since October 26, has already closed 4 of these stores. Is this the end, in your opinion, of organic supermarkets?

Specialized food shops are not doing badly but we are on a specific dimension to organic. This sector had the wind in its sails until 2018. It's not just about price. From 2019, consumers have weighed the environmental promise, the health benefits of these foods. But competition from local products, in short circuits or regional manufactures, which we have seen spread in hyper and super, has led to lower consumption in organic stores.

Will the dominant position of hypermarkets last?

As long as there is inflation, I think there will always be a primacy given to hyper, super and hard-discount. But we cannot know if another economic or health crisis will shake up this model.

  • Inflation
  • Mass distribution
  • Consumers
  • Commerce
  • Economy
  • Feeding