Take-home grocery sales are expected to surpass £13bn for the first time this December, new data reveals.
Kantar’s latest figures show that sales grew by 6.3% over the four weeks to 26 November 2023 to reach £11.7bn.
Fraser McKevitt, Head of Retail and Consumer Insight, Worldpanel Division, UK, said: “The scene is set for record-breaking spend through the supermarket tills this Christmas. The festive period is always a bumper one for the grocers with consumers buying on average 10% more items than in a typical month. Some of the increase, of course, will also be driven by the ongoing price inflation we’ve seen this year.”
The Kantar data shows that spending on offers hit its highest level in more than two years in the latest period at 28.4%.
McKevitt added: “The amount of money spent on deals usually leaps in the run up to Christmas, but this year is already looking a bit different. We’re well above 2022 levels, with customers making an additional £180 million in savings this November versus 12 months ago.
“Brands have benefited from the boost in offers and have now edged ahead of their own-label counterparts, growing sales by 6.5% versus 6.4% for retailer lines. However, own-label is still doing incredibly well and premium lines especially so. These products are up by 15.4% year on year, with wine, chilled ready meals and fresh beef among the big winners last month.”
Kantar is predicting that Friday 22 December will be the single busiest day in store and nearly 41 million brussels sprouts will pass through the tills every day in the week before 25 December.
