Independents leading the way in grocery
CONVENIENCE stores continue to lead the way when it comes to value sales growth during the coronavirus outbreak.
Kantar figures for the four weeks to 19 April revealed that independents and symbols saw year-on-year value sales growth of 85.5%.
Supermarkets, while still in growth, where far behind convenience in value sales growth terms.
Sainsbury’s saw the biggest uplift, 12.5%, followed by Tesco at 11.7%. Asda and Morrisons growth was relatively small by comparison, up just 3% and 3.1% respectively.
The Co-op sat between the big four and independent sector, with sales up 42% while – in contrast to pre-lockdown trends – Aldi sales were up 2.2%, with Lidl experiencing 9.5% value growth.
Nielsen figures for the 12 weeks to 18 April painted a similar picture.
The data specialist found the Co-op ahead of the big four with value sales growth of 13.6%. While this figure is markedly lower than the 42% reported by Kantar, Nielsen’s figures cover a three-month period with a significant portion of the data from before lockdown measures were introduced.
During the lockdown, online sales have been booming according to Nielsen.
It reported that grocery sales reached 10% of the total market in the four weeks ending 18 April.
Mike Watkins, UK head of retailer and business insight and Nielsen said it was “too soon to know” whether this trend will persist when lockdown is lifted.
