Drinking at home sends supermarket sales soaring

SUPERMARKETS recorded their busiest week since March as families prepared for new lockdown restrictions.

Sales grew by 10.6pc in the four weeks to October 4, up from 8pc in the previous month, industry figures from Kantar show. Britons spent an extra £261m on alcohol as the 10pm curfew for bars, pubs and restaurants started and the Eat Out to Help Out ended.

Web sales grew by 76pc yearon-year with a fifth of all households ordering food online.

The seven days from September 21 to 27 were the busiest since March, with 107m trips recorded, although this was still well below the 175m weekly trips before the first lockdown.

Sales of toilet roll and flour rose 64pc and 73pc respectively – but beyond this there was ‘little evidence’ of panic buying, the report said.

Online- only grocer Ocado, which started a partnership with Marks & Spencer on September 1, remained the fastest growing supermarket, recording 41.9pc growth in the 12 weeks to

October 4. It was the only retailer to add customers – 22,000 – according to Kantar, and its market share rose from 1.4pc to 1.8pc.

However, Waitrose’s online business grew even faster, thanks to rapid expansion in its own delivery slots as it readies for the end of its deal with Ocado. Sales rose 8.9pc, maintaining its 5pc market share.

Morrisons continued to be the best performer among the Big Four, with 11.5pc sales growth.

Tesco held fast to its 26.9pc market share with 9.2pc sales growth, after new boss Ken Murphy said it had gained customers from the German discounters. Sainsbury’s and Asda, bought this month by the Issa brothers, lost share with revenue growth of just 6.8pc and 5.4pc respectively.

The pandemic has halted growth at discounters Aldi and Lidl due to the fact they do not have online businesses. Iceland, which is 50 next month, took its market share to 2.3pc.