UK supermarket tills saw a significant surge in the four weeks leading up to 19 April, with sales jumping by 9.6 per cent, new data from NielsenIQ (NIQ) revealed today.
The late Easter bank holiday fueled a spending spree, pushing value growth into double digits for the past three weeks, a stark contrast to the 2.7 per cent increase recorded in March.
This rise was helped by shoppers opting to indulge themselves with 76 per cent of households saying they planned to host gatherings over Easter with family and friends. Many shoppers were also encouraged to spend with attractive seasonal discounts and overall promotional spend of FMCG sales growing from 22.9 per cent last month to 24.2 per cent leading up to Easter.
This takes promotions back to the same level as Easter 2019 and also Christmas 2024.
With 65 per cent of GB households likely or very likely to buy extra groceries when they see a good promotion, this would have helped sales this Easter, the market researcher said.
NIQ data also shows that early spring and sunnier weather saw in-store sales grow (+9.4%) ahead of online (+6.3%) over the last four weeks with online share dipping to 12.3 per cent of FMCG sales compared to 12.7 per cent a year ago.
A fall in consumer confidence over April failed to deter shoppers succumbing to Easter indulges on family food and drink, with deals such as half price lamb and pre-packed vegetables on offer at 15p (or less) enticed spend. This led to Brits spending £47m on legs of lamb (+26%) and to elevate the dining experience, shoppers spent more on fresh berries (+22%) to enjoy at breakfast and dessert.
Promotions would also have played their role with the growth of these categories with 4 in 10 households likely to buy extra items in meat, fish, poultry when there is a good promotion.
The strongest category performers were confectionery, snacks and soft drinks (+19.3%) as well as general merchandise (+11.7%) and fresh foods (+11.6%) and helped by the start of spring and a shift towards al fresco activities and Easter dining. There was however slower growth for ‘ambient’ cupboard food (+1.1%) as well as sales of household and pet items (+0.8%).3
Beers, wine and spirits sales grew (+6.4%) with shoppers spending £56m, an extra +18%, on prosecco. As expected, confectionery sales didn’t disappoint growing by 40 per cent with £349m spent on chocolate confectionery.
“Easter has traditionally been a time of year when the larger supermarkets captured more of the incremental spend but this year, Aldi and Lidl also gained market share,” Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said.
“There was a weaker performance from Asda and Morrisons with Tesco gaining market share and Sainsbury’s holding market share over the last 12 weeks. M&S sales were also strong at 14.7 per cent.
“But growths were lower in the convenience channel where sales were up just 5.2 per cent in the last four weeks. The good news for Ocado is that they remain the fastest growing retailer and had a strong Easter - particularly against some tough year ago comparatives, helped by their wider ranges and also the attraction on M&S food for the Easter holiday.”
