British shoppers will spend around £7 billion on groceries in the two-week period leading up to Christmas, according to data from Nielsen.
While sales momentum in the UK supermarket landscape is currently 'weak', Nielsen noted, with headline growth of 2.3% in the past four weeks, the coming days could be telling, with potential growth of 4%, compared to the same period last year, if predictions are met.
“It’s been a slow start to Christmas in 2018, and in particular, for the grocery multiples," said Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer insight.
"The good news is that we still expect shoppers to spend on seasonal treats and indulgences, as well as premium food and drink, when shopping, and to enjoy the festive season with family and friends. This will provide some much-needed sales momentum, in particular for the big supermarkets," added Watkins.
Personal Finances
The slow start to the festive season has been impacted by shoppers being concerned about the state of their personal finances, with 43% believing that it's not a good time to spend money, according to the recent Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted in collaboration with Nielsen.
However, this is more likely to impact upon big-ticket items than food and beverage, the research group added. Categories such as gin, pre-mixed alcoholic drinks, salty snacks (such as pretzels), hampers and low-alcohol beers have all seen strong growth over the past four weeks, the group noted.
“Retailers have been putting a real focus on increasing the frequency of visits that shoppers make to stores,” said Watkins.
“The ‘little and often’ shopping trend is just as important at Christmas, and, as shoppers tend to expand their store repertoire at this time of year, now is the time for retailers to take the opportunity in the lead-up to the holidays to make sure they’ve got all the festive favourites stocked alongside attractive offers,” he added.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
