A STUDY carried out by Marktest has revealed that for the first time in three years, the Portuguese prefer to shop in supermarkets rather than hypermarkets.
The percentage of customers that prefer to shop in supermarkets increased to 68.5 per cent in the last year from 57 per cent in 2002. The hypermarket’s customer share fell to 61 per cent from 62.3 per cent in 2002.
Lidl was the most popular supermarket among the Portuguese, with 38.8 per cent saying they do their weekly shop at the chain due to the low prices and convenience. In 2002, Lidl occupied fifth place in the list. Continente lost first place in the table but still increased its customer share to 30.9 per cent.
The study also revealed that women prefer to shop in supermarkets in order to look for the lowest price goods, whereas men prefer hypermarkets to buy the more expensive products. The only areas of the country where customers are preferential to hypermarkets are in the cities of Lisbon and Porto. Other hypermarkets in the top five included Intermarché, Modelo and Pingo Doce.
