In corona time, everyone who sold food benefited from the closure of the catering industry, the supermarkets first. Specialty shops, markets and farm shops also saw a huge influx of customers. But where the farmers’ shops and specialty stores see the turnover decrease and that of the supermarket stabilises, the market continues to grow.
“The market has the image that you get value for money. And now that everything is becoming more expensive, we also act accordingly,” says Norman Buysse of market researcher GfK. Figures for the first half of the year show that sales on the market increased by 3 percent.
“In the supermarket it has remained virtually stable, at the specialty stores the turnover has decreased by 5 percent and at farm shops by 6 percent.” Turnover on the market also grew in the first half of 2021 compared to 2020. “There is now growth on growth.”
Branch organization CVAH confirms that the market stall holders have had something positive from the corona period. “The market has received a new impulse as a result of corona. The customers that have joined continue to come,” says chairman Louise Wesselius.
On average, we spend 17 euros each time we do our shopping on the market. In the supermarket it is 25 euros. “We go to the supermarket much more often, of course, at least once a week,” says Buysse of GfK. We went to the market on average eight times in the first six months of this year.
According to the market researcher, the market is going crazy. “There are more organic markets, there is more supply of olives and nuts and also whole dishes that can be eaten on the spot.”
‘In the market you buy a pound and get a pound’
The industry club also recognizes that image. “It will certainly become hipper and more luxurious, the consumer wants that,” says Wesselius. The chairman of the CVAH says that people have become more attentive. “At the auction you see that vegetables that used to be a pound in a plastic bag, now go in 400 grams. At the market you buy a pound and you get a pound.”
It is still mainly the elderly that the market has to rely on. “Almost half of the turnover comes from pensioners, while in the supermarket it is almost a third,” says GfK.
With the older generations, there is even more stamping that you get value for money on the market, says Wesselius. “Because of the slogan: on the market, there your guilder is worth a thaler.”
–
