Shoppers are less likely to treat themselves and are increasingly choosing value retailers or retailers’ own-label brands, according to an ICM poll carried out exclusively for Retail Week.

More than half of ICM’s national sample (55 per cent) admitted to spending less on non-essential treats than this time last year; among women the figure was 61 per cent, compared with 49 per cent for men.

Nearly a quarter of respondents also said they are shopping locally more because of rising petrol prices and 62 per cent said they have been switching to private-label brands. Among low-income DE consumers, this figure rose to 70 per cent.

23 per cent of those surveyed said they were shopping more at value retailers; again, this was higher among DEs at 30 per cent. There was also a regional split, with the trend towards shopping in value retailers highest in the North (27 per cent), Wales and the Southwest (25 per cent) and lowest in Scotland (17 per cent).

The survey, which polled more than 1,000 consumers, supports Wednesday’s CBI Distributive Trades Survey, which revealed that the three-month moving average of sales volumes had reached its lowest figure since December 2005, at -16 per cent.

CBI Distributive Trades Panel chairman and Asda retail director Andy Clarke said: “There is a shift to value retailers and, although it’s early days, we are also seeing a definite move to value brands and lower transaction baskets in the fourth week of the pay cycle.

“But there will be winners as well as losers. Those already offering value and with a closely managed cost base will start with a clear advantage.”

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