Coronavirus: UK consumers ease up on stockpiling in run up to Easter
UK consumers spent an additional £83m on groceries last week, but sales are down by 2.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2019, suggesting the nation has eased up on stockpiling.
Grocery sales in the UK have increased significantly over the past weeks, as a result of stockpiling, amid health fears around the worldwide spread of coronavirus.
British consumers have been instructed by the government to remain at home in a ‘lockdown’ to control the spread.
However, this stockpiling appears to have cooled off, as weekly sales begin to decline. The biggest fall was recorded in the week before last, when weekly sales declined by 12.2 per cent, according to data firm Nielsen.
Bucking the downward trend, however, sales of baking ingredients such as fresh dough and pastry (69 per cent), and home baking sundries such as cake, cookie and brownie mixes, flour and dried fruit (50 per cent) have soared.
There was also another surge in demand for alcohol, with sales for beers, wines and spirits increasing by 15 per cent compared to the same time last year, as pubs and bars remain shut across the UK.
The UK’s third weekend under lockdown coincides with the Easter weekend, normally one of the biggest retail events of the year for fast-moving consumer goods.
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However, due to the stringent restrictions in place, the number of people who have said that they will celebrate Easter has fallen from 44 per cent to 31 per cent.
In addition, while 77 per cent of consumers said they usually would purchase Easter Eggs, almost half (46 per cent) now say they do not intend to purchase an Easter Egg this year.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at Nielsen, said: “With restricted living now the new norm in the UK, the second week of lockdown has also brought a new shopping experience for many consumers.
“Sales have started to slow, and this can be attributed to the many social distancing measures, such as queues outside, routes through the store, and people shopping alone – reducing the impulse buys ‘pester power’ encourages.
“This has meant that weekly shops are now more planned. Shoppers want to get in and out as quickly as possible, with less time spent browsing. Availability is also still a challenge as the supply chain continues to play catch up in some areas”.
Watkins concluded: “We can expect this pattern to continue for at least the next three to four weeks, and then start to stabilise when the country begins to slowly recover from the lockdown situation.”