Solid December for indies despite ‘tough’ trading conditions

By David Shrimpton in Industry News 16th January 2023

Symbol groups and wholesalers supplying the independent convenience sector are reporting robust sales in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year, although food price inflation is behind at least some of the increase and market conditions remain “tough”.

Paddy Doody, sales and marketing director at Henderson Group, which owns the Spar, Eurospar and Vivo brands in Northern Ireland, told TalkingRetail.com: “While like-for-like sales were strong in the December trading period at +10.9%, the impact of food price inflation was a major factor.

“Overall, alongside our independent retailers, we were pleased with the performance.

“However, we are mindful of the headwinds currently being experienced in relation to energy and cost-of-living concerns and the general economic landscape.”

Louise Hoste, managing director at Spar UK, added: “We continued to see good like-for-like growth over the Christmas period, which was in line with how we traded throughout 2022.

“The hard work and commitment of our retailers and colleagues through these peak trading weeks has been phenomenal.

“The business is positioned well to deliver on our plans, but we remain mindful of the headwinds that may impact the industry in the year ahead.”

Jamie Ferguson, head of marketing at wholesaler Parfetts, said: “Parfetts achieved a record week leading up to Christmas.

“All depots saw strong footfall, and delivered operations also proved popular, resulting in a year-on-year increase of 12%.”

But he added: “Trading conditions across the market remained tough.”