Confidence among food and grocery shoppers has grown slightly during August thanks to the Government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme, according to the latest market insight from IGD.

The IGD Shopper Confidence Index blends a range of measures that relate directly to the food and consumer goods sector to calculate an overall indication of shopper confidence, with -100 being very negative and +100 being overwhelmingly positive. For August, shopper confidence remained relatively low at -7, slightly up on the previous month (-8 in July). This temporarily increased to -5 over the Bank Holiday weekend, up from -9 at the start of the month, before levelling off by the end of August.

According to IGD, the increase can be attributed to the summer holidays and the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ Government scheme, with shoppers also benefiting from a general return to a sense of normality.

“With many shoppers changing their behaviours and trying new things, there are some key opportunities for retailers and suppliers to target new at home key occasions, such as celebrations and evening meals.”

Simon Wainwright, director of global insight at IGD, said: “The Bank Holiday, Eat Out to Help Out scheme and holidays have helped support shopper confidence over the last month. As we enter a period of events, with Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas on the horizon, we would hope for a similar effect over the coming months.

“Overall shopper confidence is likely to remain fragile as unemployment levels rise and shoppers contend with the impact of an economic downturn in 2020. This will likely see an increased focus in savvy shopping behaviours from the shopper groups most affected, which businesses should consider for their 2021 planning.

“With many shoppers changing their behaviours and trying new things, there are some key opportunities for retailers and suppliers to target new at home key occasions, such as celebrations and evening meals.”

The latest report from IGD also highlighted how 30% of shoppers expect to be worse off financially in the year ahead, down from 34% last month and 50% in April. As well as this, 79% of shoppers expect food prices to increase in the year ahead, down from 83% last month.

In terms of age groups, confidence has increased this month among 35-44s. Younger shoppers are less financially confident this month, with 24% of 18-24s expecting to be worse off in the year ahead (vs. 20% in July), and 33% of 25-34s expecting to be worse off (vs. 24% in July).