Supermarket Price Wars Killing Off The Booze Cruise
The traditional British booze cruise, is slowly being killed off by supermarket chains who are aggressively competing with one another in an ongoing price war.
According to research from industry portal The Grocer, a slumping Pound-Euro exchange rate, and cut price deals from supermarkets has meant that consumers no longer have the incentive they once did to cross the English Channel and stock up on cut price booze, since alcohol is now cheaper at the local supermarket.
British supermarket chains are offering alcohol so competitively priced, that alcohol warehouses on the Calais coast no longer offer the value they once did.
Everything from John Smith Extra Smooth to Smirnoff and Bombay Sapphire is cheaper at UK supermarket then at the Calais branches of the chains. Carlsberg, Fosters and Smirnoff are only marginally more expensive, and when added to the cost of travel, the price difference is negligible and not worthwhile.
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “We have great value promotions on a number of lines in UK stores so there will be occasions when UK store prices are cheaper than those across the Channel.”
The spokesperson noted that middle class consumers were still making the trip to purchase wine and Champagne, since prices for those products continue to be lower across the border.
Earlier in the year Majestic Wine said it had seen a large fall in trade, with the number of transactions dropping 27 per cent and the average customer spend declining 7 per cent.
Commenting on the findings, a spokesman for The Grocer magazine said: “While the plummeting pound was blamed, it is the depth of below-cost supermarket promotions that have really scuppered the viability of the booze cruise.”
“Factor in the ferry, petrol and time and it becomes clear trips to France just to cram alcohol into every nook and cranny of the car are doomed.”
Please Note - All Prices Quoted Are Correct at Time of Posting
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