04 December 2008
On Monday 8th December 2008 the States of Jersey Statistics Unit released the findings of the survey "A third supermarket operator in Jersey ?". The survey was commissioned by the Economic Development Department and has been run, analysed and published independently by the Statistics Unit.
The survey aimed to provide a robust measure of the attitudes and opinions of Jersey residents towards food shopping in the Island. The large random postal survey received an extremely high response rate of 60%. The results and inferences drawn can be considered to be representative of the full Island adult population.
GENERAL ATTITUDES TO FOOD SHOPPING:
- The majority of Islanders feel that “Value for money”, followed by “Quality of products” followed by “Choice of products” are, in that order, the three most important factors with regards to food shopping in the Island;
- This was true for all age-groups and equivilised income groups.
OPINIONS ON CURRENT SITUATION IN JERSEY:
- Nearly half of residents (47%) felt that “Value for money” in the Island was “Poor” or “Very poor”;
- Nearly two-thirds (62%) thought the “Range of supermarket operators” was “Poor” or “Very poor”;
- Nine out of ten (90%) felt that the current “Quality of products” was adequate or better, with half (52%) considering quality to be “Good” or “Very good”;
- Half of people (48%) feel that “Choice of products” is “Adequate” in Jersey, a quarter (27%) that it was “Good”, and 5% that it was “Very good”.
ATTITUDES TOWARDS HAVING A THIRD SUPERMARKET OPERATOR:
- One-fifth of Islanders (21%) are happy with the current range of supermarket operators, whilst 69% indicated they were not;
- Four-fifths think that having a third supermarket operator might improve value for money (81%) and choice of products (79%) in the Island; two-thirds (64%) think that a third supermarket operator might improve the quality of products in the Island;
- A third of people (34%) expressed concern that smaller shops might close with the arrival of a third supermarket operator – half (50%) said they were not concerned about this issue;
- A similar proportion (29%) were concerned that less locally produced food might be available in these circumstances, whilst over half (57%) were not concerned about this issue;
- Seven out of ten Islanders (71%) were not concerned that current supermarkets might close if a third supermarket were to operate in Jersey, whilst a sixth (15%) were concerned.
Overall, more than four-fifths (84%) of residents were in favour of Jersey having a third supermarket operator.
By far the most preferred type was a general British operator. This type was the preferred choice for all age-groups and equivilised income bands.
You can find a copy of the full report here:
Document Type: Adobe PDF
"A Third Supermarket Operator in Jersey?" Survey ReportTo view PDF files you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, the latest version can be freely downloaded here:
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