Shoppers to splash out £6.8bn on festive food and drink

New data from NielsenIQ found that UK shoppers will treat themselves to more premium and higher value items this Christmas, with the average value of the shopping basket 2.6 per cent higher this year. Shoppers are expected to splash out on celebration cakes (up 16 per cent), premixed alcoholic drinks (up 14 per cent), fresh olives (up 7 per cent), pizzas (up 13 per cent) and chilled ready meals (up 11 per cent).

NielsenIQ said the increases highlight how shoppers are preferring to entertain and dine at home.

It said that online grocery sales fell 13 per cent in the last four weeks to December 4. However, this is against lockdown comparatives in the same period in 2020.

In terms of retailer performance in the past 12 weeks, the fastest growing food retailer was M&S (up 9 per cent), which has outpaced Lidl (up 8 per cent) and Aldi (up 5 per cent) and these are the only retailers to see sales growth against this time last year.

Mike Watkins, NielsenIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said: “Whilst our data may show that performance at the big four supermarkets is weaker, we must remember that this is against strong comparatives last year when the nation was in lockdown.

"For example, retailers with a larger convenience footprint may see higher fluctuations in sales. Equally a 10 per cent fall in beers, wines and spirits sales across the industry in the last four weeks will have impacted sales at the larger stores of many of the big four supermarkets.

"Nevertheless, with two weeks to go there is still a lot to play for, with special prices from loyalty cards which are the promotional mechanic most likely to encourage shoppers to spend more this Christmas."

Mr Watkins said that this year, more than ever, he expects shoppers to plan activities and meal occasions around family and friends.

Total till grocery sales fell 2.5 per cent in the four weeks to December 4.

Mr Watkins said: "The sales figures in November are partly due to lockdown comparatives, but also shoppers delaying big shopping trips until the final week before Christmas when fresh foods and any remaining indulgences are purchased.

"For one in three households, good availability as well as low prices are the most important factors in deciding where to shop and we anticipate that the December 23 is likely to be the peak day for trading at UK supermarkets.”