Shopping in supermarkets is now more done with deferred credit

Now purchases in supermarkets are made more with a credit card and with payments deferred to several months instead of in a single payment, according to the results of a study carried out by the economic consultancy Oikonomics with data from the Internal Revenue Service (SRI) and of the Superintendency of Banks.

This is contrary to one of the golden rules of personal finance, which is to never defer food payments, since these purchases must be in cash or in current payment – which is when the total value of the purchase is settled in a single payment. to the cutting of the card-, since the deferred is only recommended to be used for purchases that are made in the present but that serve for a while such as studies, furniture, uniforms.

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In 2022 -according to this analysis- there was a greater preference towards paying with credit cards in supermarkets, in fact the total amount invoiced in October exceeds the value of the previous year by $8 million, which implies a growth of 11 %. In addition, it is detailed that total local sales in supermarkets in 2021 were $5,498 million and exceeded 2020 sales by 5% and 2019 sales by 8%; however, this growth in the level of sales in 2021 is reversed in 2022. “Such is the case that between January and October 2022 sales were registered for an amount of $4,094 million, a reduction of 5% in relation to sales Totals for the same months of 2021.

The way of paying also changed. As of October 2021, buying in the supermarket with a credit card with current payment was the preference with 55% participation compared to 45% deferred purchase. However, as of October 2022, the deferred payment stood at 50.6% participation and slightly beats the current payment, which has a preference of 49.4%.

In other words, the gap narrowed and deferred credit used in supermarkets grows at a faster rate than current credit. In the first ten months of 2022, deferred credit grew by 2% compared to the same months of 2021, while current credit fell by 9%.

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Why are these changes in consumption in supermarkets and with credit cards taking place? The consultant indicates that the drop in the level of sales in supermarkets can be explained by the increase in the price level of food and non-alcoholic beverages during 2022, as they are the main products offered in this type of establishment. And it is that in 2021 the consumer price index (CPI) of food and non-alcoholic beverages maintained an average monthly growth of -1%, but between January and November 2022 that rate maintained an average of 5%.

“Given such an increase in the price of food, buyers may be encouraged to restrict their consumption or modify their behavior when paying for their purchases,” says Andrés Rodríguez Estrada, general manager of Oikonomics in his report in which concludes that according to the increase in prices, the drop in the level of sales and the increase in deferred payment with respect to the current one, possibly people lost purchasing power in 2022 with respect to the previous year, and thus they buy less and what they buy they prefer to defer it.

To carry out this analysis, the firm reported that it extracted official sales information from the SRI, specifically on the activity: retail sale in supermarkets. And it included information on the amounts billed by credit card in supermarkets from publications of the Superintendency of Banks. (YO)