News and Trends

    Our latest Eating and Drinking Out Panel data highlights continued caution in the eating out market, as participation shows modest month-on-month improvement but remains well below last year’s levels. Ongoing political instability and financial insecurity are keeping pressure on discretionary spend, shaping how and where consumers choose to eat out.   Instability is driving cautious consumer behaviour   Eating out participation has improved slightly since last month, but still sits -6.4ppts below the same period last year . Unsettling local election results, alongside sustained global political tension, are weighing on confidence and limiting consumers’ willingness to spend freely on non-essential occasions.   Convenience-led channels ar...

 Source: Josh Holmes, Linkedin ✨ Marks and Spencer continues to build momentum despite one of the most disruptive cyber attacks ever faced by a retailer. FY25/26 results: • Group sales up 1.9% to £14.2bn • Food sales up 7.0% to £9.7bn • Fashion, Home & Beauty sales down 7.7% to £3.9bn • Adjusted profit before tax down 23.8% to £671m Behind the numbers: 1. Food is the growth engine: Food sales are now approaching £10bn, market share has risen to 4.1% and 800,000 shoppers were added during the year. New, larger Food halls and continued growth through Ocado Retail are extending its reach. The result is a retailer increasingly competing for a bigger share of the weekly shop, not just premium top-up missions. 2. Bigger better stores: M&S opened 12 new Food stores during the year and plans another 18 this year, including several former Homebase locations. Larger Food halls and renewed full-line stores allow customers to shop more of the M&S offer in one place. That suppor...

Source: Kelly Mackenzie (Linkedin)  

   

Source: www.talkingretail.com, 9th June 2026 IGD shopper sentiment tracking reveals a clear opportunity for retailers to drive event-led sales during the 2026 World Cup, with 36% of UK adults tempted to spend more on food and groceries to celebrate the tournament. This is up from 23% ahead of the 2022 World Cup, which took place in November and December, when festive spending was also competing for share of wallet. The findings, which form part of IGD’s ongoing World Cup 2026 analysis, point to stronger engagement with event-led food and drink occasions this summer. IGD’s research highlights that spending will not be evenly distributed across the tournament, with shopper behaviour heavily influenced by on-pitch performance. Almost four in ten shoppers (39%) say they will spend more if their team performs well, up from 26% in 2022. This, IGD argues, creates a dynamic sales opportunity where demand can build rapidly as teams progress and interest intensifies. Overall engagement is also c...

Source: QSRmedia.co.uk, May 2026 Customer traffic fell by 2.3% in the first quarter. Customer traffic across the UK foodservice market fell by 2.3% in Q1 2026, marking the steepest decline since January 2024, as weaker consumer confidence, rising prices and shifting regional demand continued to pressure the sector. Data from Meaningful Vision showed fast-food traffic declined by 1.2% during the quarter, reversing the 1% growth recorded a year earlier. Casual dining and pub traffic fell even further, down 8%, following a 7% decline during 2025. The data was compiled by analysing more than 60,000 fast-food, coffee shop and casual dining outlets in the UK. Fast-food store expansion has slowed sharply, with outlet growth falling from 2.4% in Q1 2025 to 1.1% in Q1 2026. The slower pipeline has removed a key source of traffic uplift that supported market performance the previous year, compounding weaker like-for-like demand across the sector. More than half of leading fast-food chains are no...