Grocery sales registered the strongest increase last month since June 2020 as Ocado and Iceland both delivered substantial growth.

Total grocery sales rose 12.5% in the 12 weeks to February 2, according to Kantar’s latest figures.

This increase was particularly prominent in February when sales rose 15.1% overall, marking the fastest rate of growth since June 2020.

 

Online sales accounted for 15.4% of total sales in the four weeks to February 21, a new record share of overall sales and up from 8.7% during the same period the previous year.

Online-only grocer Ocado registered the strongest uplift in sales overall during the 12-week period, up 35.3% year on year and driven by strong growth across the south and Midlands.

The grocery etailer market share nudged up 0.3% during the period to 1.7% of the overall market.

Iceland’s sales grew 23.9% year on year during the period, driven by its average basket size growing by more than half to £19.93, the fastest rate of growth across all the grocers.

Tesco grew its market share for the first time since 2016, up 0.2% to 27.4% overall. The supermarket giant’s overall sales rose 13.2% during the period overall.

Morrisons also won market share, taking an extra 0.1% to reach 10.3% of the market overall, with sales up by 13.9%.

 

Kantar head of retail and consumer insights Fraser McKevitt said: “Overall, shoppers have spent £15.2bn more on groceries during the pandemic – that’s around £4,800 per household on average – an increase of £500 compared with normal times. 

“It’s been an extraordinary 12 months for online and 3 million tonnes of food alone have been delivered to people’s homes over the past year. It’s a habit that seems to be sticking among British consumers and internet orders now make up an average of 65% of grocery spending each month for people who do shop online. 

“In terms of the grocery market itself, we’ll start to see year-on-year decline following the anniversary of the first national lockdown next month. Sales will be measured against last year’s record spending and comparisons will be tough against the heights of 2020.

“Demand for groceries is also likely to subside as the hospitality sector reopens.”