(Alliance News) - UK demand for groceries has surged in November, research agency Kantar said on Tuesday, amid limited opportunities to drink in pubs and restaurants.
UK take-home grocery sales rose 11% in the 12 weeks to November 29, to total GBP27.67 billion, the fastest rate of growth since August. In the most recent four weeks sales increased by 14% - as eating and drinking out of home was restricted by the English national lockdown, noted Kantar.
More than 6 million households shopped at a grocer online in November - the highest ever - with digital platforms accounting for 14% of all sales - also a record.
"The three days before non-essential retail and hospitality closed on 5 November were especially busy, with grocery sales that week up by 17%," highlighted Fraser McKevitt, head of retail & consumer insight at Kantar.
November as a whole saw shopper frequency hit its highest level since the beginning of the pandemic, McKevitt continued, suggesting more confidence among people going into stores, he added.
"Those factors contributed to November being the single largest month ever for the supermarkets," said McKevitt. "December's numbers are likely to surpass that again."
Amongst individual retailers, Ocado PLC demonstrated that online shopping has been one of the major trends of 2020, growing by 38% in the 12 weeks to November 29. This period also fully covers the time since Ocado started selling Marks & Spencer Group PLC products, during which its share of the chilled ready meals market has tripled to just over 3%.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC led the 'Big Four' grocers, with sales increasing both in store and online, resulting in growth of 14%, and gaining 0.2 percentage points of market share to stand at 10.3%.
J Sainsbury PLC's share remained steady at 15.7%, with sales up by 11% in the latest 12 weeks. Tesco PLC's sales rose by 10%, and Walmart Inc Asda's by 7.7%.
Walmart in October agreed to sell Asda to Issa Brothers and UK-based private equity firm TDR Capital LLP for GBP6.8 billion. Brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa are co-chief executives of Blackburn-based British retailer EG Group, a company which operates fast food outlets and petrol stations in Europe, Australia and the US.
Discounters Aldi sales were up by 7.0%, with a 7.7% share of the market.
Both Iceland and Lidl, meanwhile, found success this month, with growth caming from the freezer aisles, while fruit, vegetables and household cleaning products also grew quickly. Lidl reached a new record market share of 6.2%, as sales grew by 14%.
Elsewhere, Waitrose increased sales by 13%, its fastest rate of growth since 2005, with sales of fresh meat and fresh fish rising by 25% and 16%, respectively. Its share rose by 0.1 percentage points on last year, and the retailer now accounts for 4.9% of the market.
Co-op's growth increased to 9.8%, with the convenience retailer holding on to a market share of 6.3%.
Shares in Ocado were up 0.9% at 2,211.00 pence in London early Tuesday. Morrisons was up 1.2% at 175.60p, Tesco up 0.4% at 225.80p and Sainsbury's was 0.8% higher at 213.40p.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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