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Frozen Food

Frozen Food

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Shoppers set to spend £6.8bn at supermarkets in coming two weeks

Research shows consumers are seeking to treat themselves to more premium and higher value items this Christmas.

British shoppers are set to spend £6.8bn at UK supermarkets in the two weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, up from £6.7bn in 2020, new data from NielsenIQ reveals.

The data shows that Total Till grocery sales fell 2.5% in the four weeks ending 4 December. However, grocery spend has already begun to pick up, with sales at -0.9% in the first week of December, indicating that spend is set to increase in the next two weeks ahead of Christmas.

The data shows UK shoppers are seeking to treat themselves to more premium and higher value items this Christmas, with the average value of the shopping basket now 2.6% higher this year. Growth across products includes celebration cakes (+15.6% to £15m), premixed alcoholic drinks (+13.7% to £25m), fresh olives (+7.4% to £9m) and fresh pizza (+13.1% to £50m) and fresh ready meals (+11.3% to £195m), which highlights how shoppers are preferring to entertain and dine at home.

Meanwhile, online grocery sales fall by 13% in the four weeks ending 4 December 2021.

Mike Watkins, NielsenIQ’s UK Head of Retailer and Business Insight, said: “This year more than ever, we can expect shoppers to plan activities and meal occasions around family and friends. The sales figures in November are partly due to lockdown comparatives but also shoppers delaying big shopping trips until the final week before Christmas when fresh foods and any remaining indulgences are purchased. For one in three households good availability as well as low prices are the most important factors in deciding where to shop and we anticipate that 23 December is likely to be the peak day for trading at UK supermarkets.”

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