It’s a long-held belief in the banana category that a price rise would not harm sales, but when Sainsbury’s responded to shortages by hiking its loose banana price last summer, consumers voted with their feet.
Although the research was carried out over a relatively short period and did not see a price hike across the sector, Kantar’s data reveals information that could call into question the long-held belief in the UK that banana sales would not be affected by a sales increase.
In the 12 week period when the price increased at Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, banana sales across the retail sector remained stable but Sainsbury’s shoppers bought 335,000kg less loose bananas – suggesting they chose to shop elsewhere.
