Cypriots shopping more frequently but buying fewer items

Cypriots are making more frequent trips to the supermarket and buying less as means of controlling their spending, rather than filling up a trolley every few weeks or once a month, according to a survey published on Sunday.

The survey, carried out by market research company RetailZoom, which compiles data it collects from supermarkets and which it analysed on behalf of Politis, showed that Cypriots had diversified their shopping habits as hight inflation prompts people to become more cost conscious.

In September 2021 shoppers were spending on average €46.33 on a supermarket visit but in September 2022, this dropped to €38, around €8 less per trip (18.19 per cent). The survey said the data showed that shoppers when they did go, were buying only what they needed.

According to RetailZoom’s data on the frequency with which Cypriots visit supermarkets, the data shows that in September 2021 on average a person visited a supermarket every 4.15 days, while at the end of September 2022 visits became more frequent at 3.86 but fewer items were purchased.

Coffee sales were down 8 per cent, olive oil 5 per cent and nuts 3 per cent. Sales of toilet paper were up 1 per cent.

Citing the weighted average price of a basket of ten basic products (rice, coffee, sugar, oil, cereals, pasta, cheese, yogurt, honey and milk), the survey showed an increase of 7.19 per cent year-on-year in September, in line with inflation.

In terms of the price performance of the ten items, nine had increased in price. Only honey prices had fallen slightly – from €11 per kilo in September 2021 to €10.17 per kilo in the same month this year.

By contrast, rice saw an annual increase in its weighted average price of about 7.21 per cent per kilo and coffee showed an annual increase of about 3 per cent in its weighted average price. As for olive oil, its weighted average price per litre was €5.37 at the end of September 2021 and €6.56 at the end of September 2022, an increase of 22.64 per cent.

Pasta also showed a large increase in price with the weighted average price per kilo going from €3.66 in September 2021 to €4.10 at the end of September 2022, an increase of around 12 per cent. Other items that increased in the double digits were coffee, dairy and baby formula.

Toiletries went down overall by around 1 per cent while the price of soft drinks and alcohols remained stable.