Take-home sales at UK grocers increased by 2.3% over the four weeks to 3 November 2024 to reach £11.6 billion (€13.9 billion), making this the biggest sales month of the year so far according to the latest data from Kantar.
The take-home sales rise coincided with a jump in the number of shopping trips made by households, hitting a four-year high at 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.
Trips Up Gradually
"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.”
Halloween played a part in galvanising sales and there are signs that some consumers are looking further ahead in the calendar, starting their Christmas shopping early.
Fraser McKevitt continued, “Many of us got into the spooky spirit last month, as 3.2 million households bought at least one pumpkin.
"Confectionary spending also got a boost to £525 million (€632.9) in October as sales of chocolates and sweets both went up, climbing by 13% and 7% each.
Christmas Purchases
“What’s interesting this month is the number of households who are already stocking up the cupboards for the big day in December.
"Some people think Christmas ads hit our screens too soon but it’s clearly important for retailers to set out their stalls early."
The data found that 648,000 shoppers have already bought a Christmas cake, while 14.4% of households picked up mince pies in October.
With Black Friday on the horizon, the grocers will be hoping to capture a slice of the action there too.
In the week up to 26 November last year, online and offline sales for typical Black Friday categories across all high street retailers were £1.6 billion (€1.92 billion) higher than during an average week in 2023.
Supermarkets Outperformed
Ocado topped the growth table, boosting its sales by 9.5% over the 12 weeks to 3 November 2024.
With sales up by 7.4%, Lidl was the fastest growing retailer with a bricks and mortar presence for the 15th period in a row, continuing this run into a second year.
It secured 326,000 additional shoppers this period, more than any other retailer, and saw particularly strong fresh produce sales growth at 22%.
