Comment: Consumer will be king as grocers battle for Christmas spend

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The fight for Christmas Number One in food is really intense this year.

The fight for Christmas Number One is really intense this year.

And I’m not talking about the Military Wives versus the X-Factor finalist. But something even more competitive - which retail food channel will gain the upper hand and entice hard-pressed shoppers to splash out this festive season?

In the past, discounters might have regarded Christmas as ‘not one for us’. Recently though, what’s been striking is the emphasis Aldi and Lidl have put on the quality, value and breadth of their Christmas offering.

The Specially Selected range from Aldi and Deluxe from Lidl have been extended and now include seasonal products like fresh whole goose and premium wine ranges to appeal to shoppers who want to indulge themselves, while keeping an eye on cost.

The messaging seems to be working – Christmas sales at both discounters have grown significantly in recent years as shoppers’ confidence in their product quality has increased.

The online channel is also a contender for the top spot. Just this week, we’ve had Cyber Monday – regarded as the busiest sales day for etailers as it’s the last payday before Christmas for most shoppers. Several retailers reported a significant increase in online traffic.

Counter-intuitively, internet shopping can draw people into stores as well. While you could go to the supermarket to collect your online purchases, now you can have your presents sent to your local convenience store.

The signs are, this could grow in popularity; earlier this year, The Co-operative introduced collection lockers at four stores in London, allowing Amazon customers to collect online orders.

And our ShopperVista consumer research shows 72% of shoppers could eventually imagine using a parcel pick-up service from convenience stores.

Convenience wouldn’t normally be a contender for Christmas Number one, but there are still several opportunities for this channel – especially the traditional top-up shop between Christmas and New Year. If the quality and range of products are right, then more people will shop locally and avoid the rush of the Christmas sales.

This is a great chance for operators in this channel to highlight what sets them apart, like local ranges tapping into festive community spirit, or great fresh and food-to-go offers.

So who’s the real winner this Christmas?

I’d have to say it’s the consumer – the grocery market is ultra competitive and all the channels are fighting for every penny. The X-Factor winner may not come out on top, but the channel with a little Xtra-Factor may well.