Post-COVID grocery sales high, but below March peak: StatCan

OTTAWA — Consumers continued to buy more hand sanitizer, toilet paper, canned goods and baking supplies in April than before the COVID-19 pandemic even as the mid-March shopping frenzy started to die down, according to Statistic Canada’s latest data.

Retail grocery store sales jumped 40 per cent for the week ending March 21 compared to the same week last year, the agency said in a special report on how shopping patterns have changed since Canada stepped up its COVID-19 public health campaigns.

The week prior, sales soared 46 per cent. That week included Easter, as well as the introduction of a government advisory against non-essential travel.

The StatCan report, the second since the onset of the pandemic, covers a period from the week ending March 21 to the week ending April 11.

The March surge came as Canadians re-stocked depleted pantries and prepared to shop less frequently, among other reasons.

Eighty-three per cent of consumers in Canada are limiting the number of times they shop, according to a new survey by Accenture, a global professional services company. Accenture commissioned the survey of 3,074 consumers in 15 markets, including Canada, and it was conducted between April 2 and 6.

Across the 15 markets, 39 per cent of respondents agreed they’re likely to continue doing fewer shops after the pandemic subsides and 26 per cent saying they’re likely to continue doing larger shops.

The sales increase slowed the last week of March and first week of April, according to Statistics Canada, with 12 per cent jumps compared to the same weeks in 2019, while the week ending April 11 saw a 19 per cent rise.

The slowdown mimics trends seen by Canada’s largest grocers.

Empire Co. Ltd., the parent company of Safeway and Sobeys, said it saw “sales intensity began to subside” by March 22, in an update released mid-April. It continued to see heightened demand for canned goods, baking supplies, and cleaning and sanitization products, it said, while fuel sales dropped as Canadians drove less.

Metro Inc. also saw sales level off after an initial surge, the company said during its most recent quarterly financial release late last month. Between March 15 and April 11, the company saw same-store food sales, a key retail metric, rise 25 per cent compared to the same time last year.