Swedish retailer ICA has continued its strong year to date with a 5.2% increase in like-for-like sales in August, as more Swedish consumers stayed at home this summer.
Sales totalled SEK 11.14 billion (€1.07 billion) for the month, which is an increase of 5.4% on the same period the previous year. Sales in the period January to August were 7.3% higher, at SEK 86.9 billion (€8.37 billion).
Banner Performance
The group's Maxi ICA Stormarknad banner posted the strongest performance in the period, seeing a 7.5% increase on a like-for-like basis (+9.8% reported), while its ICA Nära convenience chain saw a 5.7% like-for-like increase (+5.7% reported).
Elsewhere, its ICA Kvantum banner posted a 4.4% increase in like-for-like sales (+4.8% reported), and its ICA Supermarket banner was up 3.2% (+2.1% reported).
ICA Gruppen estimates the calendar effect for August to be -2.0%, compared to -1.8% in July.
As of 31 August, the number of ICA stores in operation was 1,269.
Pandemic Impact
Announcing the group's second-quarter results last month, ICA Gruppen CEO Per Strömberg said, “The ongoing pandemic continues to impact the market, customer behaviours and thus all aspects of our business.
"The impacts are varied however, and while ICA Sweden is benefiting from the situation with higher sales and earnings, Apotek Hjärtat and Rimi Baltic in particular had a considerably tougher quarter. The very high growth for e-commerce continues to accelerate.”
© 2020 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
