January saw shoppers spend £1 billion more on supermarket food and drink items compared to the same four-week period last year, with take-home grocery sales also rising by 12.2% during the 12 weeks to 24th January 2021, according to Kantar.
Sales growth accelerated to 12.2% in the latest 12 weeks, as reintroduced lockdown restrictions caused people to spend more on take-home groceries. January also saw people balancing the usual new year health trends with the desire to indulge on home comforts during lockdown, according to Kantar’s market insight.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, commented: “As well as the usual healthy new year’s resolutions, shoppers also looked to treat themselves in January as a way of coping with another month of restrictions. For example, vegan-specific ranges were bought by 6.6 million households this month, a 10% increase on last year, as Veganuary helped sales of those products grow by 23% in the past four weeks compared to 2020.
“This period also captured a unique New Year’s Eve – with many people celebrating the night at home instead of going out or hosting family and friends. Delivery companies such as Just Eat and Deliveroo felt the benefit as more people than usual tucked into a takeaway, and such services accounted for 6% of all online shopping trips on 31 December.”
McKevitt added: “We expect to see strong growth for all the grocers fall off as we reach the anniversary of the first national lockdown in March. Sales will then be measured against the high volumes recorded in spring and summer 2020. With the vaccine rollout underway, there’s also hope that the hospitality sector will re-open, meaning demand for take-home groceries is likely to subside. Brexit has been another talking point, though steady grocery inflation of 1.3% this month suggests any pricing impact is yet to be felt by consumers.”
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Convenience stores, including independent corner shops and those operated by major chains, recorded their highest four-week ending share of the market since September in January at 12.9%. Co-op posted a 12-week ending market share of 6.0% – unchanged from last year – after sales increased by 11.4%.
Ocado was once again the fastest growing retailer with sales up by 36.6%, and Waitrose’s premium online offer helped it to grow by 11.3%. Iceland’s sales grew by 21.8%, meaning it has now grown every period since April 2018.
Of the big four supermarkets, Morrisons increased sales the fastest, with growth of 14.3%. Tesco had another strong month with sales rising by 12.2%, in step with the overall market, and it maintained a market share of 27.3%. Sainsbury’s also posted an increase of 12.0%, and Asda’s growth of 9.9% was its best performance since July.
Lidl grew by 12.1%, with market share of 5.9% – the same as last year. Fellow discounter Aldi now holds a market share of 7.4% and its sales were up by 5.7%.
