Families spend €15 more on groceries per week

The prices of daily groceries in the supermarket have risen by 11.3 percent in the past six months, according to market researcher GfK. For an average family with two kids, that is about 15 euros more per week, AD reports.

GfK researchers go shopping every month to compare prices. At the end of August, they paid exactly 100 euros for a shopping trolley with 55 basic groceries - ranging from bread and milk to wine and toothpaste. This month they paid 111.30 euros for the same trolley.

"For consumers, it became 11.3 percent more expensive in over six months," Norman Buysse, retail director at GfK, said to the newspaper. "An average family with two children spends 7,000 to 8,000 euros on groceries per year. That means that households quickly pay just under 800 euros more, about 15 euros per week."

Already high inflation was pushed even further by Russia invading Ukraine. As prices for food and energy climb higher and higher, Netherlands residents are adjusting their purchasing behavior in the supermarket. House brands have gained ground, with their market share growing by 6 percent since the start of the year, GfK found in surveying its consumer panel of 10,000 households. The turnover for A-brands fell by 5 percent.

Another trend is that consumers shop more at "cheaper" supermarkets like Aldi, Boni, Lidl, Dirk, and Nettorama. These discount supermarkets saw their market share increase by 3 percent. Remarkably, this is not at the expense of other supermarkets like Albert Heijn or Jumbo. "The Dutch now more often visit different supermarkets, looking for offers," Buysse said. 

Specialty shops like butchers, greengrocers, and fish shops are having a hard time. Compared to the coronavirus pandemic, when they thrived during lockdowns that had the catering sector closed, the decline in their turnover is massive. In March last year, fish shops saw a turnover plus of 30 percent. In March this year, sales fell by about 24 percent. 

Bakeries and cheese shops are holding up surprisingly well, for the time being, maintaining their extra coronavirus turnover from last year.