News and Trends

Namnews, 13th June 2022 New data released by NielsenIQ confirms that Platinum Jubilee sales did not disappoint, with value sales at supermarkets in the UK topping £2.7bn in the week ending 4 June, 10% above the year-to-date average. Sales at the grocery multiples improved £92m on last year, meaning that year-on-year growth improved 3.5%. Compared to sales in the previous week, sales improved by 5.8%, which equates to an increase of £149m. In terms of category performance, ambient grocery (shelf-stable food) was up 11.6%, followed by household and pet products (+7.7%), with beers, wines and spirits returning to growth (+7.0%). Excluding Christmas and Easter, this is the first time this category has seen sales improve since the week ending 11 September 2021. Over the Jubilee weekend, shoppers celebrated with teatime treats and fizz, with sales up for disposable tableware (+56%), cream and custard (+48%), champagne (+47%), dough and pastry (+46%), dry pasta (+41%), sparkling wine (+40%), ...

Namnews, 11th January 2022 Lidl outperformed key rival Aldi over the Christmas period, with total year-on-year sales growth of 2.6% and a two-year gain of 21% during the four-week period to 26 December Like  Aldi yesterday , Lidl said it had benefitted from shoppers switching from other grocers. However, also like Aldi, it did not reveal data on whether its growth had been achieved at stores already open for more than a year or at newly opened sites. Lidl opened eight stores in December alone. The discounter claimed it was the country’s “fastest-growing bricks and mortar retailer” in December, with it benefitting from record footfall levels in the week leading up to Christmas day and growing 14% year-on-year on its busiest day, which was 23 December. Data released today by NielsenIQ suggests M&S was the fast-growing food retailer in the final quarter of the year, with the Big Four supermarket group’s struggling for growth against tough comparatives with bumper trade in the sect...

Namnews,   11th January 2022 Marks & Spencer’s food division continued its strong run during the key Christmas period, growing significantly faster than the Big Four supermarkets and outperforming the discounters. Data for NielsenIQ shows M&S’s grocery sales soared 9.4% in the 12 weeks to 1 January, aided by weaker comparatives than its rivals and shoppers treating themselves to more premium products over the Christmas period. As part of its ongoing turnaround plan, M&S has worked to broaden the appeal of its food range with more products and family-orientated ranges. A shift towards lower prices has also helped the business gain market share as people used the retailer from bigger grocery shops. The group has also benefited from its online joint venture with Ocado. M&S publishes its own third-quarter trading update on Thursday with some analysts predicting it could upgrade its 2021/22 profit outlook again following the upgrade in November last year. The Nielse...

Namnews, 19th October 2021 Total till grocery sales in the UK fell 0.7% in the four weeks to 9 October due to tough comparatives and shoppers beginning to rebalance their spending habits amid growing concerns around rising energy and fuel costs. The data from NielsenIQ revealed UK shoppers spent £11.8bn on groceries during the month, which is £41m less than the same period last year. However, this is still up 6.6% compared with pre-pandemic shopping two years ago. In terms of retailer performance over the last 12 weeks, Lidl (12.1%) and Aldi (8.9%) continued to grow sales as consumers opted for more value-based options. Tesco (1.9%) and Marks & Spencer (9.4%) were the only retailers to gain market share outside of the discounters. NielsenIQ highlighted that spend on promotional items remained low at 20%, down from 22% during the same period last year amid growing concerns around availability issues and disruption in the supply chain. Households are also being encouraged to shop ear...

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 ...