The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has shared its latest retail and consumer insights report, finding that online grocery spend reached a record £1.6 billion during the festive period.
AHDB said that 23rd December proved to be the most popular grocery shopping day, with sales 30% higher than any other day in 2024. Growth of premium own-label lines increased by 14.6%, showing that consumers are willing to pay a bit more for a treat at Christmas time.
Online grocery spending reached a record £1.6 billion, reaching 5.6 million households this Christmas (Kantar 4 w/e 29th December 2024), suggesting that many consumers were choosing to avoid the supermarket chaos and shop from their sofas in December.
Cheese sees year-on-year growth
While 2025 total dairy volumes didn’t quite match the dairy sales of 2024, a positive uplift was seen for volumes of cow’s cheese and yogurt. Within cow’s cheese, strong volume growth year-on-year was seen for Cheddar (+3.8%), speciality/continental cheese (+4.8%) and Stilton & British blue cheese (+15.0%) (NIQ POD Homescan, Total GB 2 w/e 28th December 2024), reflecting AHDB’s predictions for cheese boards favouring brie, Cheddar and Stilton.
Volumes of Stilton and British blue cheese sold during December represented 23.7% of total volumes for 2024. AHDB found that cream was also a “standout performer” for dairy. Double cream volumes increased by 2.6% year-on-year and strong promotions on specific types of cream helped drive volume increases for clotted cream (+8.1%) and aerosol cream (8.2%) (NIQ POD Homescan, Total GB, 2 w/e 28th December 2024).
Meat, fish and poultry
Total meat, fish and poultry (MFP) volumes remained level with the Christmas of 2023, despite a decrease in retail promotions across all red meat roasting joints.
AHDB said that as expected, whole turkey fared well with +2.4% year-on-year volume growth. Gammon roasting joints also had a good year, even with significantly less promotional activity than turkey, with a +1.4% volume increase year-on year (Kantar 4 w/e 29th December 2024). Volumes of gammon roasting joints sold during December represent 24.4% of all gammon roasting joint volumes sold during 2024.
Lamb roasting joints also had a strong seasonal performance, which AHDB said echoed the excellent performance for lamb as a whole across 2024 (4.3% volume growth Kantar 52 w/e 29th December 2024).
AHDB’s retail & consumer insight manager, Emma Wantling, commented: “It’s positive to see another strong performance from our meat and dairy sectors this Christmas, once again highlighting the importance of Christmas classics like cheese and roasting joints for British consumers.
“AHDB’s Let’s Eat Balanced marketing campaign has returned this January 2025 to promote the exceptional taste, flavours and nutritional benefits of lean meat and dairy as part of a varied and balanced diet.
“The campaign aims to build trust in the nation’s agricultural sector by bringing consumers closer to the farm, showcasing the resilience and dedication British farmers put into producing food of world-class quality.”
