For the first time in 2 years, the price of certain products is falling in supermarkets. However, you should choose certain brands rather than others.
Inflation is a phenomenon now well known to French households. For two years, the French have seen their budgets largely cut by the almost constant rise in prices. Electricity, gas, fuel, clothing, care, leisure… Everything costs more. But one of the items of expenditure that has increased the most remains shopping, particularly in supermarkets. Food, hygiene and cleaning products have seen their prices skyrocket in recent years.
In 2022, inflation on food products amounted to 7.3% over the year while a year later, prices jumped once again by 11.9%. However, as inflation continues to push up prices, a surprising trend is emerging on supermarket shelves. According to data from the NielsenIQ institute, for the first time since the start of the inflationary crisis, certain products show price reductions over one year.
These price reductions mainly concern the hygiene sections, such as dishwashing products (-2.43%), shampoos (-2.33%), toothpastes (-1.52%), laundry detergents (-0 .75%) and toilet paper (-1.06%). This phenomenon demonstrates that the Descrozaille law, which has capped promotions of non-food products at 34% since March, has not contributed to fueling inflation. The NielsenIQ institute underlines that to compensate for the end of mega-promotions, brands have reduced product prices, outside promotional periods.
Even more remarkable, some price reductions also affect food departments. The pasta department, which was the first to see its prices soar at the start of 2022, is now showing a decline of 1.5%, or even 5% for certain brands over one year. Other food products follow this trend, such as eggs (-1%), pizzas, frozen snacks from national brands, chips, sandwich breads, industrial brioches and trays of cold meats.
It should be noted that price reductions are, generally speaking, greater on private label products. Clearly, to take advantage of recent price drops, it is better to opt for the Carrefour, Auchan, Lidl, etc. brands.
However, not all departments are in the same boat. Four of them still show a rate of increase greater than 4%: olive oils, orange juice, chocolate and beers. This increase is explained by the surge in the prices of their raw materials following difficult harvests last year. The high price of sugar, although falling recently, also impacts the prices of citrus nectars and chocolate bars. As for beers, their prices could rise further with the major sporting events of the summer, such as the Euro football and the Olympic Games.
