Six out of 10 shoppers prefer every day low pricing (EDLP) to pure promotions, although they miss the excitement of buy-one-get-one-frees (bogofs) and similar offers, according to IGD’s new Shopper Insight Loyalty and Pricing report.

IGD found that over half of those who stated a preference for EDLP did so because they shopped to a budget, while the remainder that preferred EDLP did so because promotions were irrelevant to them or they believed supermarkets offset the discount by upping the price of other products.

The findings will be of interest to retailers in the forecourt sector. Until recently, the channel has not been considered price sensitive for groceries.

But as reported in December’s Forecourt Trader, Datamonitor has identified an emerging polarisation in the shopping habits of petrol forecourt c-store shoppers, between price-seekers and service-seekers.

IGD’s research also found that the 23 per cent of shoppers who prefer promotion-heavy stores such as Safeway did so because they enabled them to stock up and save money in the long run. Bogofs were most favoured by larger households and those who did not work.

IGD has also published the results of consumer attitudes towards the

ongoing Safeway sale saga. Industry may have spent the last year obsessing about who will get the major multiple, but consumers are more interested in the effect the takeover will have on prices, services and quality.

Overall, most consumers expect the acquisition to have a positive effect on their shopping experience.