New data from Deloitte’s Global Consumer Pulse Survey released this week showed that as prices have soared, a growing number of Germans have had no choice but to shift their grocery shopping habits. The findings showed that many consumers were trading down to cheaper food, or removing certain items entirely from their shopping lists.

Roughly 37% of survey respondents reported that they now were giving preference to cheaper supermarket brands, while 35% reported buying cheaper types of meat. One fifth of respondents noted they were now regularly buying less groceries than they would want. One fourth report they are only buying the essentials, and have eliminated the purchase of sweets and delicacies.

Deloitte stated, “The numerous crises and challenges of recent years have caused consumers to change their habits and routines in order to make do with the financial resources available to them. This affects a wide range of areas of everyday life – including nutrition. Our research shows: for many consumers, saving money on food purchases is the order of the day.” adding one in three consumers is “financially stressed” when grocery shopping.

The report noted that only 41% of the respondents indicated they had any understanding of why prices are at such high levels, as they complained that there was no transparency regarding the setting of prices. Over two thirds of respondents (64%) said they felt companies were exploiting the situation to raise prices higher than they had to be raised, so they could make additional profits.

In May of 2023, yearly inflation was confirmed to have hit a 14 year low of 6.1%, down from the previous month’s 7.2%. However it remained well above the European Central Banks’ target rate of 2%. Food prices saw their upward rise slowed compared to the previous month, however the remained in the double digits, coming in at 14.9%. Dairy products, at 28.2%, and bread and cereals at 19.3% drove the elevated rate.

For its analysis, Deloitte conducted a representative survey of roughly 25,000 consumers from 25 countries, including roughly 1,000 from Germany, on April 20-26, 2023.  Deloitte noted in June it conducted a supplementary survey with an identical sample.