Grocery sales over the last 12 weeks have dipped and customer behaviours have begun to revert, as lockdown restrictions ease and life slowly returns to normality.

In the 12 weeks to June 13, 2021, take home grocery sales slipped 1.6% year-on-year and the growth in online shopping juddered to a halt, staying flat at 13.4% in the four weeks to June 13, according to the latest Kantar supermarket share data. 

The data also showed a return to more frequent grocery shopping visits, with average basket spend per trip down 13.6% year-on-year for the 12 week period. 

Despite the shift to more normalised, pre-Covid shopping patterns, Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt noted that sales were still sky-high compared to 2019. 

“While it’s encouraging to see shoppers returning to the habits of old, there is still a way to go before the market entirely returns to normal. That’s demonstrated by the fact that sales in the past 12 weeks were still £3.3bn higher than in 2019 before the pandemic hit. Retailers will also be benefiting from sales of goods consumed on-the-go, such as picnics and lunches eaten at work, which are not captured in these numbers.”

With online shopping numbers staying flat for the first time since the start of the pandemic, combined with penetration dipping in the previous three months, indicates that ecommerce food shopping may have reached its new baseline. 

McKevitt added: “A really interesting recent development in online shopping is the rapid growth of fast-track delivery services for smaller top-up shops. Tesco launched its Whoosh platform in May to compete against start-up disruptors including Gorillas, Getir and Weezy which are moving into the market for smaller trips, with baskets under £25 currently worth £41bn online and in-store each year. It’s definitely a case of ‘watch this space’.”

Despite pubs and hospitality businesses being allowed to reopen during the period, Kantar also noted that sales of take home alcohol jumped by £29m due to the late May bank holiday and the start of the Euros football tournament. 

Discounters continue to surge

The Kantar data showed that the discounters continued to make market share gains for the period, as customers returned to stores and away from online shopping where neither Aldi or Lidl have a huge presence. 

Aldi was the fastest growing grocer for the period, with sales up 6.6% and a 0.7 percentage point increase in market share to 8.2%. Lidl also enjoyed sales growth of 4.9%, while its market share increased from 0.3 percentage points to 6.1% this period.

McKevitt noted that the success of the discounters, and Aldi in particular, was driven predominantly by “older shoppers who, having been vaccinated, are now more confident about visiting stores.” 

Tesco meanwhile recorded a fifth consecutive month where it increased its market share, up 0.2 percentage points to 27.1%. Sainsbury’s eye on driving its value food proposition saw it gain 0.2 percentage points, increasing its market share to 15.2%. Asda also made gains, up 14.1% of the market, while Morrisons stayed flat at 10.1%. 

C-store specialists the Co-op saw market share fall back from 7.4% to 6.3% this period, while a fall off in customers purchasing frozen food hampered Iceland, which saw its market share slide back 0.2 percentage points. 

Ocado, which has been consistently the fastest growing grocer in the UK, also saw its growth slow to just 5.4% as customers shopped online less.

Waitrose enjoyed growth of 3.3% for the period, meaning market share increased by 0.2 percentage points on a year ago to 5.0%.

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