Grocery sales boost for UK supermarket giants
Sales of groceries at UK’s major supermarket chains increased in the last weeks of November, fueling a boost for the country’s retail sector.
Of them all, J Sainsbury has performed the strongest with 6.8% growth. Across the board, there was an average 4.8% growth, according to figures in a report from retail analysts Nielsen. Outside of the big four, which are namely Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, further rises were seen with Waitrose and M&S both seeing healthy like for like improvement in their sales. For crisps alone, there was a 9.7% improvement compared with 2009 as fizzy drinks sales also experienced a 9% per cent increase.
Mike Watkins, who is the current senior manager of retailer services for Nielsen commented that shopper spending is being pushed by promotions instead of being consumer led. Throughout the industry, the last week of November is known as being an annual promotional peak and 2010 is no exception with 39% of value sales sold on some sort of promotion. Of all the categories, soft drinks and alcohol saw the greatest boost which was largely down to the amount of people wishing to stock up for the Christmas period and not wishing to venture out into the cold or risk drink-driving. While this might be so however, it is believed that this early purchasing coupled with bad weather has could dampen early December figures.
If the supermarkets end up struggling, as customers are unable to reach their stores, it is suggested that local convenience stores and corner shops will enjoy more success than usual.