Making hay as the sun shines

Olympics and heat boosts food chains

SUPERMARKETS have enjoyed their strongest sales for nearly three years.

The sizzling summer and the Olympics have been credited with giving hammered grocers a double boost.

Figures from industry numbercrunchers Nielsen showed takings across the sector rose by 0.9% in the four weeks to mid-August – the best month-long period barring Easter and Christmas, since November 2013.

The hot weather triggered an 18.5% surge in mineral water sales and a 41% jump in demand for ice cream. Mike Watkins, of Nielsen, said Team GB’s storming performance in Rio also led to a sales uplift. “Brexit seems to have been replaced by an Olympic feel-good factor among shoppers,” he said.

Among the supermarkets putting in a winning performance was Tesco, whose shares jumped nearly 4.3% yesterday.

The biggest one-day rise for two months came after separate data from Kantar Worldpanel showed Tesco’s sale fell only 0.4% in the three months to mid-August – the best for six months.

Kantar’s Fraser McKevitt said: “Tesco’s recent product launches have been making a positive impact on its performance.”

Tesco saw the smallest decline of the big four supermarkets.

Sainsburys’ takings fell 0.6%, and Morrisons was down 1.8%, while struggling Asda suffered a 5.5% slump.

Asda’s rivals have copied the chain by reducing the number of promotions in favour of permanently low prices.

Kantar said 37.7% of all grocery sales came from promotions, compared with more than 40% last year. Nielsen puts the figures at 28%.