Take-home sales at the grocers hit their highest point of the year, even as inflation began to inch up in the run-up to the all-important Christmas period.

In the four weeks leading up to November 3, 2024, take-home sales at the grocers jumped by 2.3% to sales of ÂŁ11.6bn, according to the latest Kantar market share data.

With sales hitting highs for the year, the period also coincided with a jump in the number of shopping trips made by households, hitting a four-year high of 480 million. 

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar said: “October 2024 was the busiest month for the supermarkets since March 2020, when people were preparing for the first national lockdown. Trip numbers have been going up gradually for some time, but this steady march hasn’t reached pre-Covid levels of shopping frequency just yet. The average for each household is slightly over four trips per week.”

The period covered Halloween, which “played a part in galvanising sales”, and Kantar said that some customers are already beginning to look ahead to Christmas.

“Many of us got into the spooky spirit last month, as 3.2 million households bought at least one pumpkin. Confectionery spending also got a boost to £525m in October as sales of chocolates and sweets both went up, climbing by 13% and 7% each,” said McKevitt.

“What’s interesting this month is the number of households who are already stocking up the cupboards for the big day in December.”

While sales hit their peak for the year, the spectre of rising prices also loomed larger. Over the same period, grocery price inflation hit 2.3% – up slightly on September’s figures but still within what Kantar called “typical levels”.

Inflation rates have been below 3% every month since the early summer, helped by strong promotional activity by the grocers helping keep prices down and “supporting sales of branded goods in particular”.

Ocado, Tesco and Sainsbury’s power ahead

Pureplay Ocado and grocery giants Tesco and Sainsbury’s both powered ahead of the competition in the period, all out-performing the wider market.

 

Ocado yet again topped the growth table, boosting sales by 9.5% during the 12 weeks to November 3. Discounter Lidl was the fastest growing bricks-and-mortar retailer, with sales up by 7.4%, nabbing an additional 326,000 shoppers in the period.

Tesco sales rose by 4.6% with a 27.9% share of the market – a 0.6 percentage point increase year-on-year. Spending at Sainsbury’s climbed by 4.4%, taking its overall share to 15.5% with a rise in both shopper numbers and trips during the period.

The rot at Asda continued for the period, with sales dropping by 5.5%, with its market share slipping to 12.5% - down almost 1 percentage point from the same period in 2023.

Morrisons by comparison grew sales by 2.4%, ahead of the market average for the time since June 2021, although its market share held steady at 8.6%. Aldi also held its market share steady at 10.4%.

Co-op sales dropped by 2.1% over the period, while Waitrose increased its share to 2.9% with a market share of 4.6%.

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