Sales growths in the grocery sector have remained above 3% again as bank holiday buying and pre-World Cup sales provide a modest boost to the market, according to Nielsen Scantrack.
Sales of high value items such as alcohol, general merchandise, electrical goods and seasonal non-foods have performed well but overall, market increases have been limited to around the spring bank holiday weekend at the end of May and the week building up to the start of the World Cup on the 11 June.
Mike Watkins, senior manager retailer services at Nielsen, said: “Again we see very high levels of promotions in store and while these have helped, momentum has been focused around specific categories or specific events.
“The World Cup has definitely helped with a 5.4% growth in sales at the grocery multiples in the week ending 12 June. And television sales grew by 54% in the four weeks ahead of the start of the World Cup.”
Sainsbury’s and Waitrose have both performed well in the 12 weeks to 12 June at +5.5% and +12.1% respectively, with Sainsbury’s enjoying a particularly strong four weeks at the end of this period. The retailer has added 0.3 percentage points of share since last year and now has 15% of the market.
