Supermarkets reduce alcohol promotions in favour of fruit and vegetables
Last updated 1/25/2010 9:38:15 AM
Supermarkets reduce alcohol promotions in favour of fruit and vegetables
Health campaigners will welcome news that retailers have curbed promotions on alcoholic drinks - cutting the number of deals by 15% and upping alcohol prices by 4%.
Promotions for fresh food, fruit and vegetables have expanded to fill the space drink deals used to take up, according to research for thegrocer.co.uk, an online source of information for the food, drink and grocery retailing market.
Suppliers said the research demonstrated that new pricing proposals from political parties to try to tackle problem drinkers were mere "posturing politics", which would damage many responsible companies.
The Association of Convenience Stores also criticised "lazy stereotyping" used by Home Secretary Alan Johnson in his speech this week on alcohol. Johnson said measures were needed to tackle "irresponsible corner shops" selling alcohol to children.
Last January, deals on alcoholic drinks made up a hefty 26% of all featured space supermarket promotions. This year, that has fallen to 22%. And fresh food offers have increased from 11.5% of all offers to 14%, a solid 20% increase year-on-year.
This trend was most marked at Asda, where drink deals fell from 27% of the total to 13%.
Read also >> Cigarette displays to be removed from shops to deter young smoking