Shoppers switch to cheaper brands, shun premium ranges

It says that in the last 12 months, 41% of shoppers have switched to cheaper brands and three in ten (34%) have cut down on premium ranges, such as Tesco Finest and Sainsbury's Taste the difference.

"It is clear that shoppers are now really feeling the pinch and beginning to trade down when out buying food," explains Richard Perks, director of retail research at Mintel.

"During the recent years of unprecedented prosperity in Britain, we saw a very noticeable shift towards premium, upmarket food, with shoppers buying more luxurious ready meals and exotic produce. But in the space of just a few months, this trend has already started to be reversed."

Brits are also becoming a lot more price conscious, Mintel said.

Two-thirds (66%) now look for the promotions and deals more often than we did a year ago, while 29% spend more time comparing prices in the supermarket.

There has also been a rise in the popularity of the hard discounters, like Lidl and Aldi.

Some 31% of adults go to discounters more often than they used to.

Perks said: "The major battle of this recession will be the fight between the hard discounters and the market leading superstores.

“Asda is focusing on its entry level prices and Tesco has just launched an ultra-low-priced range called Market Value. With this shift they are making it very clear that they will not just lie back and watch their market share being whittled away by the likes of Lidl and Aldi.”

The release of Mintel's research comes just hours after Aldi picked up the outstanding achievement accolade at this year's Retail Industry Awards 2008.