(qlmbusinessnews.com via telegraph.co.uk – – Wed, 30 May 2018) London, Uk – –
Supermarkets defied a downturn sweeping the retail industry as hot weather, the royal wedding and the FA Cup final encouraged shoppers to splurge on food and drink.
The grocery market grew 2.7pc to £27bn in the 12 weeks to May 20, according to Kantar Worldpanel, as all of the “Big Four” supermarkets clocked up rising sales.
Morrisons did particularly well, outstripping the market with growth of 2.9pc, as it pulled in more than 300,000 extra shoppers in the period.
Asda also managed to hang on to its market share with growth of 2.8pc but Tesco and Sainsbury’s lost ground to fast-growing German discounters Aldi and Lidl despite managing to grow sales by 2.2pc and 1pc respectively.
The figures were buoyed by a hike in prices, as inflation reached 2.1pc in the period.
The May heatwave inspired shoppers to fire up their barbecues, driving a 39pc surge in burger sales and 12pc growth in sausages and the grocers also sold 64pc more sun cream than in the previous year.
Kantar Worldpanel’s Chris Hayward said: “The Friday before the day of the wedding and the FA Cup Final experienced a particularly noticeable spike in sales, with grocers clocking in £415m over the 24 hours.”
The strong performance stands out from the wider retail sector, which has suffered a wave of insolvencies in recent months as shops have struggled with higher costs and lower footfall because more consumers are choosing to shop online.
Separate data from Nielsen said the market grew by 5pc over the last four weeks, with sales of ice cream up 41pc and alcohol up 12pc.
Nielsen’s Mike Watkins said: “We can expect many of the trends we have seen in the last few weeks to continue throughout the summer. The World Cup in June should be another chance to attract more visits and to boost shopper spend.”
By Jack Torrance
