Study calls on supermarkets to offer incentives for early week shop

The two days were the least popular among Australian grocery shoppers, who said they tended to go to the supermarket on the same day each week.

Just over half of Australian grocery buyers said they usually did their main shop on a specific day of the week. On Saturdays, 14.2% of of them flock to supermarkets around the country, almost triple the proportion who usually shop on Mondays (5.0%) and Tuesdays (5.4%). Thursdays also tend to be high-traffic grocery-buying days (10.9%), the research found.

Consistent trends​

Choice of supermarket bears little relation to the day of the week shoppers chose to go out for groceries. Customers of Coles, Woolworths/Safeway, IGA and Aldi who buy their groceries on a particular day of the week are all most likely to brave the supermarket on a Saturday, and least likely to go shopping on Mondays and Tuesdays. 

Looking at shoppers by age, the Saturday and Thursday trend is consistent across most age groups, with two key exceptions: under-25s, who are more likely to do their main grocery shop on Sundays than any other day (12.2%); and the 65+ segment, for whom Thursday is the most popular shopping day (16.8%), followed by Friday (11.8%). 

The busiest time of day for grocery-buying is between 8am and 11am, except among Sunday shoppers, who are more likely to visit the supermarket between 1pm and 5pm—a time slot which is also popular among the 43.4% of Aussie grocery buyers who don’t have a regular shopping day. 

Make other days more attractive​

“Nobody who’s been to a supermarket on a Saturday morning will be surprised to learn that Saturday is the most popular shopping day among consumers who usually do their main groceries on the same day each week​,” said Angela Smith of Roy Morgan Research. 

“The busy morning period suggests that many Saturday shoppers just want to get it over and done with as early as possible. In contrast, the proportion of regular Saturday shoppers who shop between 5pm and midnight is the lowest for this time slot across all seven days​.”

Although extended trading hours are commonplace for supermarkets these days, evenings are not especially popular for people to do their main grocery shop. 

On the other hand, consumers who do not have a regular shopping day are more likely to shop at night than those who do.

“A savvy supermarket might even offer incentives to shop on these [Mondays and Tuesdays], so as to ease the congestion of some of the other days​.”