2nd Mar 2021 08:58
(Alliance News) -Â UK take-home grocery sales growth accelerated in February with online shopping gaining momentum, figures from Kantar showed on Tuesday.
UK take-home grocery sales rose by 13% in the 12 weeks to February 21, with the last four weeks of this period seeing an acceleration to 15% growth. Kantar noted that the four-week figure was the fastest rate of growth since June 2020 as the latest national restrictions curtailed spending on food and drink outside of home.
"The pandemic has now been making its mark on our lives and completely changing the way we shop for a full year. Various hospitality restrictions mean that we've eaten an extra seven billion meals at home since spring 2020," commented Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
Looking at the latest month, Kantar noted that online grocery sales reached a new record share in the four weeks to February 21, accounting for more than 15% of all sales, up from 8.7% a year ago.
"Nearly a quarter of households bought groceries online during the past month, making the most of home deliveries especially to get hold of bulkier goods like canned foods, breakfast cereals and soft drinks. It's been an extraordinary twelve months for online and three million tonnes of food alone have been delivered to people's homes over the past year," said McKevitt.
Reflecting this, online grocer Ocado Group PLC saw a 35% surge in sales in the 12-week period, with its market share edging up to 1.7% from 1.4% a year ago. Kantar highlighted that Ocado is increasing in popularity outside of its "London heartland" and is experiencing the greatest sales growth in the south and midlands of England.
Turning to the 'Big Four', Tesco PLC had a good month. Its market share grew by 0.2 of a percentage point to 27.4% - marking the UK's biggest groceroc's first market share gain since December 2016 - while sales rose 13%.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC also won market share, taking an extra 0.1 of a percentage point to reach 10.3%, while sales jumped 14%. J Sainsbury PLC held its market share at 15.6% while sales rose 12%.
Asda sales rose 10% while its market share weakened to 14.8% from 15.1%.
Looking ahead, McKevitt highlighted that the anniversary of the UK's first national lockdown is approaching.
"Sales will be measured against last year's record spending and comparisons will be tough against the heights of 2020. Demand for groceries is also likely to subside as the hospitality sector re-opens. The more typical sales patterns of 2019 will come to the fore as the most important metric to gauge retailer performance as we emerge from lockdown over the coming months," said McKevitt.
Ocado shares were up 0.6% at 2,188.00 pence in London early Tuesday, while Tesco was down 0.1% at 221.86p, Morrisons up 0.8% at 171.40p and Sainsbury's up 0.6% at 225.50p.
By Lucy Heming;Â [email protected]
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