British shoppers spent £85 million more in the past four weeks than during the same period last year, with own-brand sales volumes rising ahead of that of branded products, Nielsen has said.
According to the research firm, shoppers bought more private label frozen foods products (+7%), canned and packaged grocery items (+6%) and bakery products (+5%) in the past four weeks, which Nielsen attributed to increased caution around spending and a shift in promotional priorities.
'Return To Normal'
“We’re starting to see shopping behaviour return to normal with the increase in own label purchasing given their lower price points, whereas last year shoppers bought more branded products thanks to heavy promotions tied to the big event of summer 2018," commented Mike Watkins, Nielsen UK's head of retailer and business insight.
During the four week period, total supermarket sales in the UK have risen by 1%, following a disappointing spring and early summer – sales were down 0.5% in July, Nielsen said.
This compares to last year, when grocery sales saw a 4.2% uplift during the same period.
“It is promising to see that the grocery market has started to recover from the low growth which has been a consistent theme since Easter. These trends have largely been obfuscated by the weather and current value growth is still not in line with inflation, which the latest Consumer Price Index pegged at 2.1%," Watkins added.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
