Sales growth at British supermarkets picked-up over the last month, helped by consumers starting to make purchases for Christmas, industry data showed on Wednesday.
Market researcher NIQ said UK supermarket sales rose 4.7 per cent in the four weeks to Oct. 5 year-on-year, having been up 4.0 per cent in last month’s report.
“Many households are now budgeting for Christmas and slowly stocking their cupboards to help spread the cost,” Mike Watkins, NIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said.
The researcher’s data, the most up-to-date snapshot of UK consumer behaviour, showed purchases of both Halloween and Christmas products drove sales growth of 0.2 per cent in general merchandise – the first growth in that category in 12 months.
NIQ said shopper visits to supermarkets rose 7.6 per cent year-on-year but average basket value fell 4 per cent to 18.62 pounds ($24.34), reflecting lessening inflation.
Like data from rival market researcher Kantar last week, NIQ said online supermarket Ocado (OCDO.L) was again the fastest growing UK grocer with sales growth of 15.9 per cent over the 12 weeks to Oct. 5.
Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) was in second place with sales growth of 12.4 per cent. NIQ said M&S attracted 800,000 new shoppers in the four week period year-on-year and over the 12 week period one in three UK households shopped at M&S for food and drink.
Market leader Tesco (TSCO.L) saw sales growth of 5.3 per cent, while No. 2 Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L) recorded growth of 5.5 per cent.
However, No. 3 player Asda continued to struggle. Its sales fell 3.1 per cent and it lost 1 percentage point of market share over the year.
Separately on Wednesday, official data showed UK inflation fell more than expected to an annual rate of 1.7 per cent in September from 2.2 per cent in August. Food inflation was 1.8 per cent.
