Grocery Sales

Convenience stores experience sales boost

NielsenIQ data reveals shoppers made extra visits to their local stores during the heatwave.

UK shoppers spent £3.6bn on groceries at convenience stores in the four weeks ending 13 August, with the channel accounting for 28.9% of sales within this period, according to new data from NielsenIQ.

The data reveals that over the fourweek period, total till grocery sales remained strong, increasing by 4.5%. However, this was exceeded by growth of sales at convenience stores, which rose 5.4%. Convenience stores also experienced an uplift in volume sales (2.7%) compared with volume sales at the grocery multiples, which declined by 3.8%.

The data shows that 21% of the total sales within c-stores were on fresh foods, where value sales increased by 13%. Sales of frozen foods jumped by 29%, as did produce (+8%) within this channel.

Shoppers also purchased more as they sought to socialise and celebrate the warm weather and shop locally. Key category volume growths included ice cubes (+44%), ice cream (+31%), and frozen desserts and cakes (+31%).

However, the boost to in-store visits came at the expense of online sales, which fell by 8.7%. The online share of FMCG sales fell to 11.3%, down from 11.5% in July and 12.9% share a year ago.

Mike Watkins, NielsenIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said: “Shoppers made extra visits to their local stores when the sun came out and sales at Co-ops increased 9% in the last four weeks, making them the fastest-growing retailer during the recent hot weather.”

Watkins added: “As inflation continues to bite, retailers that focus on saving shoppers’ money will be the ones that maintain sales momentum and it will those who are most agile and are able to adapt to another change in shopper behaviour that will be able to weather the storm. The battle for loyalty is not going away.”