RETAIL SALES of poultrymeat and eggs have spiked dramatically over the past 12 weeks, new figures reveal.
The retail analyst Kantar Worldpanel said supermarket sales have grown by their fastest rate in a decade as shoppers stocked up on produce in preparation for lockdown.
Egg sales by value were up 8.29% to £245m in the 12 weeks to 22 March year-on-year, according to Kantar, while fresh primary meat and poultry were up 7.38% over the same period.
See also: Coronavirus: Guide to selling eggs from the farm gate
Fresh processed meat and poultry were up 11.63%, it added.
Overall, in the four weeks to 22 March, grocery sales were 20.6% – the biggest month of grocery sales ever recorded.
Unusually high numbers
Kantar said that, while week-on-week sales were growing strongly at the beginning of the month, it was on Monday 16 March that the public headed to the shops in unusually high numbers.
Between Monday 16 and Thursday 19 March, 88% of households visited a grocer, making five trips on average – adding up to 42 million extra shopping trips across four days.
Shoppers made additional trips and bought slightly more, rather than increasing large trolleys, the retail analyst said.
Not going out
“With restaurants and cafés now closed, none of us can eat meals on the go any longer and an extra 503 million meals, mainly lunches and snacks, will be prepared and eaten at home every week for the foreseeable future, Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar said.
“We expect restrictions on movement and relatively full grocery cupboards will mean the incredibly high levels of shopping trips made in March will drop off over the coming weeks. Regular trips to smaller local stores are likely to continue, as people avoid travelling and queues at stores with one-in-one-out policies in place,” he added.
Sales by retailer
All retailers grew sales over the past 12 weeks.
- Lidl: 17.6%
- Ocado 12.5%
- Iceland 11.7%
- Co-Op 9.4%
- Waitrose 7.5%
- Sainsbury’s 7.4%
- Tesco 5.5%
- Asda 4.9%
- Morrison’s 4.6%
