- Advertisement -
HomeCoronavirusUK spends an extra £1.9bn stockpiling groceries

UK spends an extra £1.9bn stockpiling groceries

An extra £1.9bn of UK shoppers money was spent stockpiling groceries in the run-up to the coronavirus lockdown, according to figures for the industry.

Nielsen gave data following a brutal week for the wider retail sector that has seen high street operations all but shut down. Due to this, hundreds of thousands of staff have been given a leave of absence pending wage support from the government.

As consumers hurried to get the essentials in fear of COVID-19 spreading, supermakrets handled an additional 79 million shopping trips within the weeks approach to the 21st of March.

Stockpiling Food supplies

Kantar Worldpanel supplied separate data which showed the month of March was the biggest on record for UK grocery sales, with households spending an average of almost £63 extra over the four weeks to 22 March.

84% surge in frozen food sales from last week alone was reported by nielsen, compared to the same period from the previous year, saying there was a clear trend showing that households had already picked up other necessities including medicines.

The closure of pubs and restaurants were announced by the government. As a result of this, in-store sales of beer, wine and spirits were 67% up – meaning that around £200m extra was spent on alcohol.

The report said “finite” capacity limited sales growth for online grocery operations.

Tesco shop

Head of consumer insight and retail at Kantar, Fraser McKevitt, said: “Retailers and their staff have been on the front line as households prepare for an extended stay at home, with grocery sales amounting to £10.8bn during the past four weeks alone – that’s even higher than levels seen at Christmas, the busiest time of year under normal circumstances.”

Its figures showed Sainsbury’s recording the most significant jump in sales growth among the ‘big four’ chains.
Kantar said its sales were 7.4% up in the 12 weeks to 22 March – with Tesco 5.5% higher.

Asda and Morrisons saw growth of 4.9% and 4.6% respectively.
Online-only Ocado, which was forced to take a day-long time-out as its website struggled, saw its sales rise 12.5%.

Supermarket chains have been mainly spared the cull in stock market values of recent weeks because of their central position as an essential service to keep the nation fed during the virus crisis.

The sales data was credited for bolstering the market values of the listed groups on Tuesday – with Sainsbury’s share price leading the way – surging by 3%.

Recent Posts

Breaking News Today is a small UK business struggling to stay afloat during COVID lockdown. If you enjoyed this article or found it useful please subscribe to all of our social media outlets.

285,116FansLike
813FollowersFollow
764FollowersFollow
14SubscribersSubscribe
- Advertisement -

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -

Stay Connected

285,116FansLike
813FollowersFollow
764FollowersFollow
14SubscribersSubscribe

Must Read

- Advertisement -