Shoppers have backed the right of supermarkets to sell heavily discounted alcohol, according to exclusive research carried out by Empathy Research for TalkingRetail.com.
Asked about recent criticism of retailers’ two-for-one deals on alcohol, 45% of respondents replied that “It shouldn’t be down to the supermarkets to regulate how much people drink”.
And a further 37% praised supermarkets for bringing value to consumers through such promotions.
Only 11% thought two-for-one drinks promotions irresponsible, while 7% called for a ban on such deals.
Shoppers were also lukewarm towards recent proposals to force supermarkets to sell alcohol via separate checkouts.
Only 14% were in favour of the idea, while 47% said they “wouldn’t really mind”.
Four out of 10 shoppers opposed the idea, with 19% disagreeing with the proposal and 21% disagreeing strongly.
Nearly one in three (30%) said separate checkouts would cause them to buy less alcohol from supermarkets. But this figure rose to 46% among those aged 25-34.
The research was carried out by Empathy Research (www.empathymarketing.com), which polled more than 1,000 members of its Pigsback.com consumer website.
Empathy will be providing weekly consumer intelligence reports on TalkingRetail.com, providing insights into all the hot topics affecting grocery retail.
View the full report on supermarkets and responsible drinking
