Picnic time for shoppers as web sales soar

Figures show 91 per cent online rise

BRITISH SHOPPERS are making the most of the sunshine and meeting up with friends and family, with sales of picnic items like soft drinks and chilled dips rising 28 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, while ice cream sales rose by 57 per cent, according to the latest figures from Kantar.

Online sales have seen a staggering 91 per cent increase over the past month as more shoppers turn to the internet to avoid supermarket queues and social distancing rules.

Take-home grocery sales rose by 14 per cent year on year in the 12 weeks to June 14.

Despite the strong rise in online sales, Kantar said there are signs of a gradual return to normality as 19 million more supermarket trips were made in the most recent four weeks compared with May.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “The boost has been led by online sales, which have continued to accelerate, and convenience stores, which took £1.6bn through their tills during this period.

“A lot of people have learned how to do online shopping. I don’t think it’s going to remain at the high level it is, but retailers have now put the infrastructure in place.

“A lot of people like going to the shops. They enjoy the experience.”

Kantar said grocers are navigating a steep drop in the amount of food and drink bought on the go, which was down by a third in

early June. Mr McKevitt said onthe-go sales are down because people aren’t travelling and they are not going to work.

“In April, we saw those food onthe-go sales from supermarkets were down by about 50 per cent,” he said.

“In the latest data they are down by around 30 per cent year on year, so you can see the trend is heading back upwards, but the reality is I don’t think that’s going to get back to where it was for a number of reasons.

“One, people probably aren’t going to go into work as much. Travel is still going to be more restricted than it was and in our data, people are worried about the economic situation.”

Kantar said the huge increase in available delivery slots across the sector meant nearly one in five British households bought over the internet in the month to mid June, totalling 5.7 million shoppers.

The firm said convenience stores have become an increasingly important outlet for shoppers during the lockdown – be they independent retailers, which are growing at 69 per cent, or the smaller formats of major outlets.

Mr McKevitt said: “Convenience stores accounted for 14.7 per cent of all sales in the past four weeks. This is still considerably higher than normal levels, but it has receded from April’s peak of 16.3 per cent.”

While many of the major trends of the coronavirus period continued into June, the relaxing of lockdown rules is starting to ease the market back towards pre-pandemic shopping patterns.

Mr McKevitt said: “We’re still shopping less frequently, but shoppers are gradually changing their behaviour.

“Households made 77 million fewer trips to the grocers in the latest four weeks compared with last year, but that’s still 19 million more than in May, reflecting the slight easing of Government restrictions.”