The latest industry data from Nielsen confirms that supermarkets in the UK experienced their biggest Christmas ever last month, with the online channel playing a key role. The online share of grocery sales more doubled to 12.5% (as oppose to 6.7% in 2019) over the four weeks to the 26th of December. The rise was due to a total of 8.5 million households, just over 30% of all households, shopping for their Christmas groceries online, an increase from 5.7 million households over the festive period in 2019.
While visits to stores declined by 10%, overall and including online, shoppers increased their spend per visit to an average of £20, up from £17 a year ago, the biggest ever spend per visit during the Christmas period, and only slightly lower than the all-time high of £22 recorded at the height of the lockdown in May.
The Nielsen data shows that total till sales in the four-week period grew by 8.4% with almost £12 billion spent at supermarkets, including £1.3 billion online. However, the additional pandemic restrictions signposted mid-December led to households planning for smaller family celebrations and holding back some spend in the final two weeks leading up to the 24th of December.
With Covid-19 restrictions also impacting social gatherings and large family celebrations, purchasing fell heavily on the immediate family and not extended family and friends, as many consumers took the opportunity to enjoy a less traditional Christmas meal.
This is reflected in Nielsen’s data which shows increasing sales for less traditional meal items such as frozen dumplings (gone up by 77%), beef fillets, medallions, and steaks (which increased 57%) and fresh sea bass (up by 48%). There was also a surge in demand for more convenience food such as frozen croissants (a huge 70% increase), coffee pods (up 56%) and handheld ice creams (a 45% increase). With fewer socialising and gifting opportunities, sales of confectionery (+2%) were subdued.