Grocery sales down but mince pies flying off the shelves, says Kantar

Kantar discovered that 4.7m households bought mince pies in October and 1.6m households have already got their Christmas pudding.

Despite the overall sales decline compared with the same 12 weeks in 2020, sales are still 7.3% higher than in 2019.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Our shopping habits are beginning to settle at a new baseline as we’ve adapted our lifestyles through the pandemic.

“The general trend towards bigger, less frequent trips to the supermarket seems set to stay. Households visited the supermarket 15.7 times in the past month on average.

“That’s a slight increase from the 15.3 trips we saw at this time in 2020, but consumers are still making 40 million fewer trips per month than they were in 2019.

“At this rate of change, it would take three years to get back to our old shopping patterns.

“Online sales have also levelled out. For the second month in a row, digital sales accounted for 12.4% of the total grocery market.

“A fifth of households consistently order groceries online each month, becoming long term converts.”

Rising Covid-19 infections this month do not seem be significantly affecting how we shop, but people are picking up more healthcare products to help manage symptoms of winter colds and flu, suggest the Kantar figures.

McKevitt added: “As we head into winter consumers are stocking up on products to help them feel better.

“Sales of cold treatments this month doubled compared with last year, while cough liquids shot up 147%.”

Shoppers seem keen to make the most of calendar milestones this year as they prepare for an extra special festive season..