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(Alliance News) - UK grocery sales stayed firmly above pre-virus levels last month and were only narrowly below the previous year's lockdown-boosted figure, with consumers looking to indulge at home during the festive period and as accelerating grocery inflation pushed up prices.
Grocery sales reached GBP11.7 billion in the four weeks to December 26, Kantar said. This was down just 0.2% from last year's record figure, when several parts of the UK faced movement curbs.
In the longer 12-week period leading up to Boxing Day, sales totalled GBP31.07 billion, down 3.0% from a year before, when the UK was under various degrees of lockdown throughout the period. However, this was up 8.0% on a two-year basis.
"People seized the chance to enjoy Christmas with friends and family after last year's muted festivities, and grocery sales hit GBP11.7 billion over the month of December alone," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
"There's no doubt many of us still love a mince pie, with sales of the sweet treats reaching GBP62 million in December, a jump of 7% on 2020. A similar amount, GBP61 million, was spent on Christmas chocolates too, with sales soaring by 21%. It looks like people came prepared for extra indulgent celebrations and indigestion remedy sales also rose by 8%. More bitter was the decline in sprout sales, which dipped by 3%, but the traditional green hasn't fallen out of favour just yet as almost half of all households in Britain served them up in December."
Vegetarian ranges were also popular, Kantar noted, and spending of premium supermarket own-label products, the Tesco PLC's, Tesco Finest range for example, hit GBP627 million. This was up 6.8% annually.
McKevitt added: "The appetite to celebrate and splash out that little bit more this year pushed sales of luxury own-brand products up across the board. Sparkling and still wine sales grew 22% and 18% respectively, while crisps surged by 31%. Tesco's Finest and Sainsbury's Taste the Difference are easily the largest premium own-label ranges, but we saw the fastest growth from other ranges such as Asda Extra Special and Iceland Luxury."
Among London-listed grocers, both Tesco and J Sainsbury PLC registered sales declines during the 12-week period. Tesco sales slipped 0.9% yearly to GBP8.84 billion, while Sainsbury's saw a 4.4% drop to GBP4.97 billion.
Sainsbury's saw its market share fade to 15.7% from 15.9%, though Tesco enjoyed an increase to 27.9% from 27.3%.
"Individual retailers found it challenging to secure year-on-year growth over the Christmas period following last year's highs, but every major grocer increased sales compared with the final 12 weeks of 2019," McKevitt added.
Online grocer Ocado was the only major player to show a year-on-year sales increase, up 2.5% to GBP544 million. Ocado's share of the market inched up to 1.7% from 1.6%.
This was despite online sales overall in the UK declining annually. In December alone, online sales fell 3.7% yearly.
Elsewhere, German discount chains Aldi and Lidl saw their market shares increase to 7.7% from 7.4% and 6.3% from 6.1%, respectively. Aldi's sales during the 12 weeks were flat yearly, though Lidl's declined 0.3%.
Asda's sales fell 3.9% and its market share faded to 14.2% from 14.3%. Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up until recently a London listing, suffered a 6.5% sales fall, with its market share slipping to 10.1% from 10.4%.
Grocery inflation for the 12 weeks stood at 2.7%, accelerating from 2.2% in the 12 weeks to November 28.
"Grocery price inflation reached 3.5% in December, adding nearly GBP15 to shoppers' average monthly grocery bill. We saw prices rise faster for a short while in Spring 2020 when promotions were cut to maintain product availability, but before that you would have to go back nearly four years to January 2018 to see inflation running higher," McKevitt added.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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