The supermarket business was supposed to be among the best places to be during the recession: Consumers staying out of restaurants would buy more at the grocery store, even if they did chase the best deals and chose fish sticks over fresh salmon.

But it's not been easy in the grocery aisles either, and consumers are benefitting from intensified competition for their purchases of bananas, diapers and chicken soup.

Shoppers at Giant Eagle, the region's dominant grocer, are about to enter a blizzard of bright yellow "lower price!" signs and shelf tags as the O'Hara chain makes its case for being a part of the solution to household budget woes -- not part of the problem.

This week, consumers will see the results of another round of price cutting at the chain. The region's dominant grocer estimates it has dropped prices an average of 23 percent on more than 100 produce items, such as lettuce, apples, bagged salads, oranges and tomatoes, totalling about $32.5 million annually.

This is the chain's sixth round of price cuts this year -- if you count offering some antibiotics free and that milk price cut in Ohio that doesn't affect more regulated Pennsylvania rates -- and follows five years of price tag trimming in other parts of the store that Giant Eagle claims add up to $240 million in customer savings on more than 15,000 items.

Lowering prices has become a trend at supermarket chains around the country this year as they battle to keep value-driven consumers out of discount chains such as Wal-Mart or Target, warehouse clubs such as Costco, limited assortment grocers such as Aldi and Save-A-Lot, and even the dollar store chains selling a bit of food and paper products.

A recent IBM study found 49 percent of shoppers going to more stores to find deals, 35 percent changing grocery stores to save money and 52 percent reducing the volume of food they buy from the grocery store. The researchers polled 4,000 U.S. residents by phone in late June and early July.

In June, SuperValu, the Minnesota distributor that supplies Shop 'n Save and Foodland stores, noted shoppers' intensifying focus on saving money as the company warned investors that its first quarter results would be lower than analysts expected. "Since providing guidance on our fourth quarter earnings call, consumers have become more value focused and cautious in their spending which has pressured sales and margins greater than anticipated," CEO Craig Herkert said in a prepared statement.

So far, Giant Eagle seems to be holding up. The private company, which has 220 supermarkets and 150 GetGo convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland, reported $8.2 billion in sales in the fiscal year ended June 30, compared with $8 billion the year before.

But it's not hard to track how customers respond when prices come down. In late August, Giant Eagle dropped its rotisserie chicken price by $2 to $4.99. Customers suddenly began eating a lot more chicken. "We saw chicken volume increase exponentially," said Rob Borella, senior director of marketing and corporate communications.

In a recent company survey, officials found approximately 90 percent of customers use its sales circular at least once a month, with most using it weekly. They've also seen shoppers using more coupons, and they know that saving money is crucial to worried consumers.

"We cannot be higher priced," said Lisa Henriksen, vice president, marketing and own brands and new business development. "It needs to be every day. It can't be just once in awhile. It needs to be on thousands of items."

Earlier rounds of price cuts attacked areas such as health and beauty care, as well as baby items such as diapers that have long drawn parents to discount stores.

Meanwhile, the grocer's marketing staff is being careful to emphasize that Giant Eagle will stick with its double-coupon programs, its fuelperks! gas discounts and foodperks! food discounts. A couple of years ago, the grocer tried to pull back on double coupons but eased up after an outcry from Pittsburgh-area customers.

Still, if nothing's going away and a grocer can afford to slash prices, sometimes people assume the stores have been overcharging all along. A radio ad by rival Shop 'n Save recently commented that its prices have been "just right" all along.

Giant Eagle officials say their price cuts have been made possible by dint of hard work. "These are very tough things," said Ms. Henriksen. "We really had to dig deep on this. That's what [consumers] need right now."

Examples of ways the company found to cut costs include replacing coffee cups at corporate headquarters with cheaper ones. Inventories have been reduced in the warehouses with better point-of-sale systems helping stores buy products more efficiently. The grocer changed in-store music suppliers.

About 80 positions were cut this summer at the headquarters and yesterday the company eliminated another 46 store-level human resources positions chainwide. Nine of those were in Pittsburgh-area stores.

Even the purchase of a water bottling operation in Westmoreland County has helped by allowing Giant Eagle to serve as its own supplier.

"It's a ton of small things," Ms. Henriksen said.

The grocer wants to make sure the price changes aren't overlooked. Lower prices and deals should be consistently highlighted with bright yellow signs and tags, even billboards with the tagline, "low prices. uncompromising quality." In some cases, they'll put tags on items that proved to be competitively priced against other stores, a tactic that Whole Foods also uses.

Giant Eagle even has a yellow bus ready to transport a squad of yellow-clad savings cheerleaders and perhaps some experts to advise on money management, nutrition and coupon clipping. They are scheduled to hit about 15 stores as well as some sporting and community events.

While that's a rather old-fashioned way to get one-on-one with shoppers, the grocery chain is starting to experiment with new media, too. A couple of years ago, Giant Eagle spent very little for online advertising while now it's probably devoted 10 percent of its budget there, said Robert Baker, senior director of advertising.

The company has noticed the bloggers and Twitter fans who pay attention to the weekly circulars and other deals. "Every week, they serve as our own little external force, I suppose," said Mr. Borella. "They're distributing our message beyond the traditional media."

Meanwhile, more price cuts could be coming as the hunt for cost efficiencies and work with vendors continues. "This is not the last price reduction you will see from Giant Eagle," said Ms. Henriksen. "This is a strategy that we've been on for some time."

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