Overall grocery sales slipped while year-on-year online grocery sales declined for the first time ever as grocers began to confront tough comparisons from last year.

For the 12 weeks to July 11, 2021, grocery sales slipped 5.1% and ecommerce food sales dropped 2.6% as more people began returning to shop in stores, according to the latest Kantar grocery market share data. 

While year-on-year comparisons were tough for the majority of grocers, comparisons to pre-pandemic levels were still encouraging with shoppers spending £3bn more on groceries than they did for the same period in 2019. 

With the period covering the end of the Euros football tournament, sales of alcohol, crisps, snacks and pizza continued to be strong. Customers spent £1.2bn on booze during the period – a 24% increase on the same period pre-pandemic. 

Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said that, while alcohol sales were strong due to the football, many customers chose to enjoy the loosening coronavirus restrictions by going out. 

“It was a huge month for British football, with major tournaments usually providing a significant boost to supermarkets,” he said.

“But with many fans choosing to make the most of newfound freedoms and watch the matches in pubs and bars, take-home sales of alcohol over the four weeks to mid-July were actually down by 3% compared with the previous month.”

With customers returning to grocery stores, Kantar’s McKevitt said that online food baskets shrank 8% during the period and total penetration of the channel fell to 13.3% of the market. 

“The number of people choosing to buy groceries online fell by 81,000 in July compared with the same four weeks last year,” he said.

“As the nation returned to shops, workplaces and restaurants over the past month, digital baskets shrank by 8% to an average of £80 per shop –the lowest since February 2020. 

“As a result, year-on-year sales growth for online groceries has dropped for the first time ever – falling by 2.6%. The channel currently accounts for 13.3% of the total market.”

Grocers in negative growth

Strong year-on-year comparables meant that nearly all the major UK grocers were in negative growth for the period. 

The only exceptions were Aldi, which was flat at 0% growth, Waitrose, which grew by 0.1%, and Ocado, which managed 3% growth despite the slowing of online. 

 

Tesco remained the largest grocer in the UK with 27.1% of the market, followed by Sainsbury’s with 15.2%, Asda with 14% and Morrisons with 10.1%. 

The Co-op saw year-on-year spending plummet 14.6% in the period, while Iceland saw sales slip 11.6%.  

Kantar also noted that grocery market inflation now stands at -1.5%, but said that prices were rising fastest in categories such as “ambient cakes and pastries, savoury snacks and cat food, while falling in fresh bacon, ambient cooking sauces and vegetables”.

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