New figures show
The amount people are spending on groceries is far outstripping the number of items they’re buying, as retailers find it harder to continue absorbing rising costs in the food supply chain, according to Nielsen retail data released today.
In the four weeks ending 7th October, UK supermarkets saw sales revenue rise 3.9 per cent year-on-year – the seventh consecutive month of sales growth above 2.0 per cent – whilst the volume of goods sold increased by just 1.6 per cent. Excluding the discounters, volumes didn’t increase at all.
“Supermarket food inflation, at 2.2 per cent, is at its highest for nearly four years and retailers have done a great job of cushioning shoppers from the rising food chain costs they’re experiencing, exacerbated by the weakening pound, but this can’t last for ever,” said Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight. “Inflation is helping supermarkets’ growth and the good news for them is that shoppers are still spending. Meanwhile, the good news for shoppers is that grocery inflation is still below that in other parts of the economy – such as travel and fuel – and should peak later in the year. Furthermore, retailers are likely to up their use of price-saving promotions at Christmas, offsetting some of the inflation.”
Confectionery (+6.6 per cent), Alcohol (+5.5 per cent) and Packaged Grocery (+5.1 per cent) saw particularly strong growth in sales, with only Soft Drinks (-1.8 per cent) down year-on-year, due to last September’s heatwave.
All of the major supermarkets saw year-on-year growth in the twelve weeks ending 7th October, apart from the Co-operative where sales were impacted by selling some smaller stores earlier this year. Tesco had the best performance of the “big four”, with 2.2 per cent sales growth. Outside of the discounters, M&S (4.3 per cent) and Iceland (3.1 per cent) saw the biggest year-on-year rise in sales.
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