Shoppers Spent An Extra £1.9bn On Groceries

31st March 2020

Data from Nielsen shows consumers in the UK made over 79 million extra grocery shopping trips in the last four weeks, with total till sales at supermarkets surging to 20.5%. The uptick in sales amid the coronavirus outbreak was particularly pronounced in the week ending 21 March, with growth of 43%.

While stockpiling continued, Nielsen’s data shows that over the four week period ending 21 March, shoppers typically added just one extra item to their basket during each shopping trip. This meant the average shopping basket increased from 10 to 11 items, with average basket spend rising from £15 to £16. While these small increases may not sound like much, Nielsen highlighted that people made three additional shopping trips during the period, and in total that equates to 79 million more shopping trips than the same time last year, all of which added up to an extra £1.9bn spent on groceries.

In terms of category performance, the data reveals that in the last week of February and the first week of March, shoppers focused on ‘stockpiling’ necessities, such as medicines for the family, cleaning supplies, household and pet care items and ambient groceries.  This continued through to the third week, with a consistent rise in these ‘pandemic pantry’ items.

However, Nielsen’s data shows that in the week ending 21 March, many shoppers had already stocked up their cupboards and pantries with the necessities, and then began to prepare for the ‘lockdown’ by filling their freezers as well. Sales of frozen food during this week rose by 84% compared to the same period last year. This was also the week in which the government announced the closure of pubs and restaurants, resulting in a surge in beer, wine and spirits sales (67%), indicating a shift from consumers stockpiling on essential items to focussing on stocking up on items to maintain their lifestyles.

In terms of retailer performance, all supermarkets experienced significant growth in sales over the four week period. Moreover, online grocery sales began to pick up and increased by 14%, with two in 10 households shopping online – representing 600,000 new households shopping online compared to the same period last year with an additional 1.2m online grocery orders placed over the four weeks.

Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK Head of Retailer and Business Insight, said: “With households making almost three extra shopping trips in the last four weeks, this small change in individual shopping behaviour has led to a seismic shift in overall shopping patterns. As well as increased store visits, consumers opted to shop online – many for the first time. However, unlike stores there is a finite capacity for online grocery shopping, due to warehouse capacity and available delivery slots, and this will have limited the growth of online sales.”

He added: “Across the industry, retailers are working closely with their supply chain partners to meet the exceptional and unexpected spike in demand from British consumers looking to stock up their cupboards and freezers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The industry has long been able to accurately predict the rate of demand, constantly adjusting to new patterns such as changes in seasonality, events, weather and promotions – but such a continuous and fast-changing surge of sales caused by the pandemic has been unprecedented.

“As British shoppers become more accustomed to what the quarantine means for their daily lives, and restricted living becomes the new norm, we expect to see shopping behaviour evolve to become more local as shoppers are unable, or unwilling, to travel further than is necessary for immediate needs such as fresh foods. In any case, the increased base level of sales that we’ve seen over the last several weeks won’t suddenly evaporate, growth won’t suddenly plummet to the levels we saw back in January and February before the crisis took hold.”