Record grocery sales as worried shoppers stock up

The sector saw market growth of 21 per cent over the past four weeks, driven by a 22 per cent leap in alcohol sales as pubs and restaurants closed and shoppers stocked up on supplies for virtual gatherings at home.

The latest research from Kantar shows sales rose 8 per cent over the past 12 weeks, beating Christmas shopping.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: "Retailers and their staff have been on the front line as households prepare for an extended stay at home, with grocery sales amounting to £10.8bn during the past four weeks alone - that's even higher than levels seen at Christmas, the busiest time of year under normal circumstances."

However, he said this level of demand will not continue.

"We are already seeing a decline in the number of trips that people are making," he said.

"People are in a lock down situation. They are not going out as much and quite frankly, people have a lot of stock in the cupboards now."

Asked whether people are buying alcohol to drown their sorrows, or to mix with friends in the virtual world, Mr McKevitt said: "It's a bit of both.

"People can't go out and socialise in pubs, restaurants and bars, so some of those alcohol sales are coming home.

"People have got a lot of time on their hands."

He said that the panic buying has been "concentrated to a relatively low number of individuals" and this will taper off as supermarkets show they are able to keep restocking their shelves.

"There are very few people who are stockpiling," he said.

"Only 6 per cent of households were stockpiling and buying a lot more handwash than they had done previously. Where there have been empty shelves, I think it's simply that everybody has been going out and buying slightly more."

Despite massive demand for deliveries, there was only a minor upswing in online sales.

"Government advice may have been to get groceries delivered if possible, but limited delivery slots meant that only 14.6 per cent of households received an online delivery in the past four weeks, up from 13.8 per cent in March 2019, but probably well below actual demand," Mr McKevitt said.

"There are capacity constraints in the system. There are only so many trucks that are out there. There are only so many qualified drivers.

"There simply isn't the ability to turn on the tap. I think there will be a return to people going to supermarkets."

Mr McKevitt said that shoppers will be even more dependent on supermarkets in the coming weeks, with restaurants and pubs closed across the country. This means that another 503 million meals will have to be prepared and eaten at home every week until restrictions ease.

All 10 of the main supermarkets grew in the last 12 weeks, according to the Kantar data. German discounters Lidl and Aldi performed strongly, growing by 17.6 per cent and 11 per cent respectively over the last 12 weeks.

At 7.4 per cent, Sainsbury's was the best performer of the big four supermarkets. Tesco grew by 5.5 per cent, Asda at 4.9 per cent and Morrisons by 4.6 per cent.

Mr McKevitt said: "We've moved from a situation of cut throat competition to one of keeping the nation fed and watered."

Researcher Nielsen said shoppers made over 79 million extra grocery shopping trips in the four weeks to March 21 as they stocked their "pandemic pantries", driving a 21 per cent jump in supermarket sales.

Nielsen's data showed that in the last week of February and the first week of March, shoppers focused on stockpiling necessities, such as medicines, cleaning supplies, pet care items and ambient groceries, such as pasta and rice.

This continued through to the third week, with a consistent rise in sales of these “pandemic pantry” items.