Increase in store visits and decrease in online sales for October, says Nielsen

By Éilis Cronin in Industry News 16th November 2021

Convenience stores played their part in a good October for bricks and mortar shopping as in-store visits grew by 2.1% for the four weeks to 6 November compared to last year, according to Nielsen figures.

Visits to supermarkets grew by even more, at 6.5%, equal to 28m more visits than in the same period last year.

This shift to shopping in shops rather than on websites meant that the online share of sales fell from 12.6% in the previous four weeks to 12.2% last month.

Despite the increase in shoppers visiting stores the NielsenIQ data also reveals that total grocery sales at the till fell 2% compared to the same period last year.

This was primarily attributed to the surge in sales at this time last year as shoppers stocked up ahead of the second lockdown, which began on 4 November.

In terms of retailer performance over the last 12 weeks, Aldi (7.9%) and Lidl (10.3%) experienced strong growth helped by new store openings in addition to shoppers beginning to shop around.

Marks & Spencer (9.1%) also experienced healthy growth indicating that shoppers are also looking for special treats and indulgences ahead of Christmas.

Mike Watkins, NielsenIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said: “Across the industry, the average spend per visit has increased for the first time since July, up to £18.60 as shoppers get back into a regular grocery shopping mindset.

“Shoppers are also returning to stores again and spending is expected to remain robust for the next six weeks with Christmas advertising campaigns now helping to boost the festive shopping momentum.

“Last year, Christmas was effectively cancelled, so this year we can expect shoppers to be spending far more than last year on festive food and drink, especially if they choose to economise by entertaining at home rather than eating out.”