LONDON - Sixty percent of main U.K. grocery shoppers shop at a local convenience store at least weekly, according to a new YouGov Sixth Sense report. However, a third of those shoppers said they were "unsatisfied" with product choice, Talking Retail reports.

Milk (68 percent), bread (55 percent) and newspapers (43 percent) topped the list of the most commonly purchased items in convenience stores. Lottery and other chance games also brought in customers, with 30 percent of respondents indicating they purchased lottery tickets or scratch cards from those stores.

A third of the respondents were women from less well-off backgrounds who stopped by several times a week for confectionery, snacks, soda and tobacco products. These customers are more apt to be price-conscious.

"While most consumers accept that convenience comes at a price, smaller shops need to ensure that this typically price-sensitive group of shoppers is being catered for with carefully-targeted promotions and special offers," said James McCoy, research director for YouGov SixthSense.

"As smaller stores fight against the major supermarket chains??it is vital that retailers understand who their customers are and their purchasing motivations. Local stores have every opportunity to capture a share of secondary shopping spend, they just need to really understand what shoppers actually want," said McCoy.

Most respondents shopped at the Co-operative (24 percent), followed by Tesco Express (16 percent), Spar (11 percent) and Sainsbury??s Local (7 percent).

"Store usage reflects the highly fragmented structure of local store retailing," said McCoy. "This fragmented structure, along with low levels of customer satisfaction, provides impetus for the continued rapid expansion by the major grocery multiples into this sector that will undermine the decreasing number of small local stores."