They are looking for promotions on both food and medicines
Often, it is the sale items that are emptying the shelves in shops.
"Naturally, people are more likely to choose lower-priced items to save money. Surveys of our loyal customers show that as many as 8 out of 10 customers follow promotions and other good price offers offered by the supermarket chain," Ernesta Dapkienė, Director of the Communications and Image Department of Maxima, told lrytas.lt.
Vaida Budrienė, Communications Manager of the shopping network "Iki", confirmed that the savings programme "Pigintuvas", launched at the beginning of August, is very popular, and goods with promotions are often quickly sold out.
"However, we are trying to replenish the shelves as soon as possible so that we don't run out of these goods," she commented to lrytas.lt portal.
In addition, sales of the most important everyday goods - butter, milk, bread - are also slightly increasing in the stores of this supermarket chain.
It is noted that Rimi shoppers also carefully study price offers, and promotions always attract a lot of attention from shoppers. "Lidl did not comment further on sales trends.
Some pharmacies also note that customers have been affected by the price hikes and have started to spend more money.
"Laura Mockutė, head of the Benu pharmacy in Kaunas, mentioned that when there is a choice of products from several manufacturers, for example, for cold symptoms, customers buy them based on the lower price.
"Recently, Camelia's customers have been ordering more frequently online, as the lower maintenance costs of online shopping mean lower prices.
"Patients tend to "hunt" for promotions, use additional discount codes for the basket of goods, and follow newsletters in which we present additional offers," Žiedūnė Juškytė-Linkevičienė, the project manager of Camelia's communication projects, told the lrytas.lt portal.
They buy only with promotions
Petras Čepkauskas, head of the food section of the price-monitoring portal Pricer.lt, confirmed that, in the face of high inflation, people have been buying promotional goods more active recently in order to fit into their budgets, while empty shelves can sometimes be seen because supermarket chains often sell promotional goods at prices below the purchase price and only have a limited number of them.
"As a result, when goods disappear from the shelves, they are sometimes not immediately replenished. This is done so that the supermarket chains do not make a loss," he told lrytas.lt.
According to him, Lithuanians used to look for lower prices in the past, which is why about half of the goods in the shopping baskets are often on sale.
"You can't buy two bars and put them aside for the future, and you have to eat them quickly. But sales of coffee or washing powder, for example, are dependent on promotions - around 80% of these goods are only bought during promotions. Lithuanians wait for promotions, buy a lot of these goods and stock up. And goods such as coffee or washing powder are not cheap, so 3 or 4 euros saved is a significant amount," said P.Čepkauskas.
Poles were faster
"Pricer.lt's representative mentioned that retail sales have been dropping since March, which is why supermarket chains have taken measures by announcing various promotional programmes.
"Every month, the quantities bought are decreasing by 5%. Apparently, the supermarket chains have taken note of this and decided to win back customers. But they did it rather late.
Poland, for example, reacted more quickly, with promotional programmes starting in April and May. This is because the Polish market is more competitive. In Lithuania, we have only one low-price chain, Lidl, and in Poland, Lidl is competing strongly with other similar chains, such as Netto and Biedronka. There, the chains can't relax, but it's a bit easier for ours, so nobody has been in a hurry to do too much with promotions," he said.
A few goods should become cheaper
According to Mr Čepkauskas, the prices of certain goods should decrease in the coming period. He pointed out that wheat was becoming cheaper, so we could see lower prices for pasta or flour in shops. The price of bread, on the other hand, should not fall, as companies have to pay a lot of money for transport, electricity and gas costs.
"But I don't think traders will cut prices. They will just put them on promotions. That's what they like to do. Of course, it is possible that some chain will announce that it is going wobbly and will reduce the price level, but I doubt very much that anyone will do that," the expert mentioned.
He said that oil should soon become cheaper too, as the wholesale price of sunflower oil is already €1.7, but is still around €3 in the shops, or €2.49 or €2.89 in some places with promotions. He predicted that new share prices could be as low as €2.19 or even €2.
Unfortunately, meat and dairy products are not expected to become cheaper, but, as Mr Čepkauskas pointed out, there will probably not be much growth either.
