Bananas top supermarket impulse purchase, survey finds

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5th June 2015 16:19 - Retail

A recent survey on behalf of Tesco has found that bananas are the most frequent impulse buy amongst customers.

The researchers surveyed 250 customers on their way out of Tesco stores in the London area, with the aim to gain an insight into what shoppers actually buy, as opposed to what features on their shopping lists.

The survey revealed that the majority of people’s shopping lists were very vague, with 71 per cent not identifying the name of the product or how may they want to buy.

The 10 items which featured most frequently on people’s shopping lists were:

•  Milk
• Bread
• Eggs
• Potatoes
• Bananas
• Fruit
• Bacon
• Butter
• Juice
• Biscuits

The 5 items most frequently bought, which were not on customers’ shopping lists, were:

• Bananas
• Strawberries
• The Sun
• Carrots
• On the vine tomatoes

The researchers also identified a correlation between how long customers’ lists are and how much they buy.

The survey found that the customers with the shortest lists are most likely to buy more items. On the other hand, those with long lists were found to not always buy all the items on their list.

When the respondents were asked why they don’t stick to their lists, it was found that customers frequently change their minds when they are out shopping. As well as this, customers feel that some items are too expensive and consequently don’t purchase anything.

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