Kantar Study: Dollar General and Walmart least expensive

It’s a draw.



Dollar General and Walmart tied for the least expensive overall basket, at $27 each, in Kantar Retail's Opening Price Point Study, which seeks to determine how select retailers meet the grocery and consumable needs of shoppers looking for the lowest absolute shelf prices.



Dollar General and Walmart outperformed competitors Aldi, Family Dollar, Stop and Shop and a number of others with the least expensive overall basket. In addition to overall basket price, the survey analyzed each store on edible baskets, non-edible baskets, and HBA sub-baskets.



With low-income shoppers having an array of competitively priced options to choose from, it's important for retailers to provide desirable price points to stay ahead of the curve, according to Kantar.



Below are additional findings from the Kantar Retail report:



• While Dollar General's edible sub-basket was $0.99 cheaper than Walmart, Walmart had better pricing on the nonedible, at $8 and $7.24 respectively.



• Dollar General tied for the lowest overall non-edible basket price, however it did not lead any of the sub-baskets. Save-A-Lot had the cheapest edible ($10.90), Walmart had the cheapest non-edible ($7.24), and Family Dollar had the cheapest HBA sub-basket ($5).



• Family Dollar had the most expensive edible sub-basket at $16.81, 54% higher than the Save-A-Lot basket. Even so, Family Dollar's pricing declined 5.2% YOY.



• Promotional activity was low and had minimal impact on the overall results. Of the product/retailer combinations analyzed, only 12 items had promoted prices. However, this was an increase from nine in 2015.



• Private-label products had a significant impact on overall basket pricing, with private label items compromising an average of two-thirds of any retailer's basket. Family Dollar was the lowest at 52% while Aldi was the highest at 96%.



• For all retailers, non-edible categories appeared to be key to delivering shopper value. Of all prices recorded in the non-edible sub-basket, 63% were $1 or less.



• Over a six-year span, OPP overall basket prices of retailers in the study has increased 11%. Walmart saw the smallest increase over time at 4.3% whereas Stop & Shop grew 20.8%.