The independent sector saw an excellent 10.3% growth in like-for-like sales in the last eight weeks of 2009, according to SalesOut – the provider of actionable insights to the FMCG industry.
The findings are based on sales data for over 11,000 independent stores, 5,000 of which are symbol stores.
Steve Collins, commercial director of SalesOut, said: “We saw a huge rise in sales in the independent sector, which was led in part by a very healthy 12.3% rise in alcohol sales on last year, with cider and spirits up 22.7% and 21.1% respectively.
“One of the weaker performances from the alcohol sector was beer, which only saw a 3.9% increase – perhaps indicative of continually aggressive beer promotions from the multiples coupled with the impact of duty fraud.”
Other strong performances were led by confectionery (6.8%) and soft drinks (9.8%) which continue to show resilience to the economic conditions.
