Spain is the second country in Europe where shopping basket spending increased the most in the first quarter of 2023, just behind Portugal, according to data from NIQ’s ‘Quarter by numbers’ report for Western Europe.
Specifically, sales in value in Spain during the first quarter grew by 11.2%, second only to Portugal (14.2%), followed by Italy (10.2%), Austria (7.9%), Sweden (7.5%), Germany (7.4%), the Netherlands (7.2%), Belgium and France (both with 7.1%) and Denmark (4.4%).
However, Spain is also in second place among the countries that experienced the lowest fall in demand and, therefore, closed the first quarter with a drop in sales volume of 0.9%, like in the previous case, below Portugal, which recorded an increase of 5%. However, it was far behind countries such as Norway (-6.6%), Finland (-5.3%), United Kingdom (-4.1%), Switzerland (-3.5%), Sweden (-3.4%), Austria (-3%), Germany (-2.8%) and Belgium (-2.4%).
Regarding the Spanish market’s performance in the quarter, household consumption continued to show weakness due to inflation, tighter financial conditions and lower available savings.
Inflation continued to rise at the beginning of 2023, mainly in food prices, which, despite lower VAT on some essential items, are still on an upward trend. However, the fall in demand was higher during this period.
In this context, consumers are changing their shopping strategies to cope with inflation, purchasing different brands more frequently and reducing the number of items per purchase, with a preference for supermarkets.
Moreover, own-brand purchases increased, widening the growth differential in value compared to manufacturer brands, with increases of 12.4% and 6.4%, respectively, placing it at a share of 43% in the quarter.
Although it is one of the most significant players in Europe, this figure is exceeded in Switzerland, where the own-brand share reached 52%, and the UK, where it stood at 46%, while it is similar to that recorded in Portugal with 41%, Belgium with 40% or Germany with 37%.