Booming sales of gin and “wonky” fruit and vegetables have helped the UK’s supermarkets ring up £500m of extra sales in recent weeks.
One in every £13 of the extra spending on groceries was on gin, according to new data from research group Kantar, with sales up by £38m, or 1.7m litres – a 40% rise – compared with the same 12 weeks a year ago. Helped by recent warm weather, soft drinks and hay fever remedies have also been selling well.
The extra £500m of grocery spending means the UK grocery sector has now witnessed two full years of sustained growth, with sales as as whole rising by 2.1% over the three months.
Morrisons, which has championed the sale of so called “wonky” veg – smaller or misshapen fruit and vegetables – said its popularity has helped make it the fastest-growing of the UK’s big four supermarkets.
The Bradford-based chain increased sales by 1.9% in the last three months and said sales of wonky greengrocery – which it sells at a lower price as a way to cut down waste – have more than tripled, according to Kantar.
Fraser McKevitt, the head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said the wonky produce was now bought by 12% of shoppers at Morrisons, boosting its own-label sales by 18%. Morrisons also achieved double-digit growth in online sales.
Morrisons’ growth was ahead of Asda at 1.8% and Tesco at 1.4%. Sainsbury’s was the only one of the big four chains where sales fell, dropping 0.2%.
However, all the major chains continue to lose market share amid rapid growth by discounters including Lidl, Aldi and Iceland, as well as online grocer Ocado.
McKevitt said: “The latest figures largely pre-date the soaring temperatures and newfound optimism for England’s World Cup chances but with the nation spending £500m more in supermarkets this period compared with last year, it suggests that summer has already arrived for many.”
Lidl continues to be the UK’s fastest-growing grocer overall with sales up 10% as it opens new stores around the country. Its fellow German chain Aldi increased sales by 8.2%, taking the two chains’ share of the market to a combined new high of 12.8%.
