Supermarket visits are up but average spend is down

Supermarket visits are up but average spend is down

New grocery sales figures from Kantar for the 12-week period to 13th June 2021 show that consumers are heading to the shops more often but are spending less each time.

The data reveals that the average spend per trip is down 13.6% compared to last year. Take-home grocery sales fell 1.6% during the last 12 weeks compared to 2020, but sales remain £3.3 billion higher than in 2019. While the frequency of grocery trips remains lower than before the pandemic, there has been a 13.1% increase in the number of shopping visits made each month by British households.

Supermarket footfall in the last four weeks was down by five million trips compared with May, which Kantar attributes to the reopening of indoor hospitality in some parts of the country.

It appears that the growth of online shopping has stalled, with ecommerce’s share of the market remaining at 13.4% in the four weeks to 13th June, as it did in May.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight, said: “While it’s encouraging to see shoppers returning to the habits of old, there is still a way to go before the market entirely returns to normal. That’s demonstrated by the fact that sales in the past 12 weeks were still £3.3 billion higher than in 2019 before the pandemic hit. Retailers will also be benefiting from sales of goods consumed on-the-go, such as picnics and lunches eaten at work, which are not captured in these numbers.”

The popularity of online sales during the past year has been one reason why Aldi and Lidl have been slow to make market share gains since the start of the pandemic. However, as shoppers revert to more typical habits, the two are finding success. 

McKevitt said: “Aldi was the fastest growing retailer over the past 12 weeks, with sales up by 6.6%. Much of its gains came from older shoppers who, having been vaccinated, are now more confident about visiting stores. Aldi’s market share increased as a result by 0.7 percentage points to 8.2%, matching its highest ever in March 2020. Lidl also enjoyed growth of 4.9% and saw its share increase from 5.8% to 6.1% this period.”

Asda too made gains, with footfall up by 29%, more than any other big four retailer. Its market share also grew from 13.9% in 2020 to 14.1%. Morrisons’ market share remained at 10.1% as it annualised against very strong growth in June last year. 

McKevitt said: “Morrisons’ share price has jumped following private equity interest which came to light over the weekend. This follows nearly a year of solid retail performance for the grocer. In July last year it shrugged off several years of underperformance, and since then it has grown faster than the market each month until this one.”

Sainsbury’s market share has moved up by 0.3 percentage points to 15.2% and Tesco gained 0.2 percentage points of market share this period, marking the fifth consecutive month that it has increased – something that it hasn’t done since 2010.

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