Eat Out to Help Out scheme wipes £155m off supermarket sales

Data from Kantar revealed that, although take-home grocery sales increased 10.8% over the 12 weeks to September 6, growth slowed to 8% in August. That marked the slowest four-week growth in grocery spending since April. 

Sales of beer and wine were particularly dented, dropping 10% and 5% respectively. 

But as consumers began to dine out with friends again, the amount spent on hair styling lines jumped 17%, sales of hair removal products were up 11%, and deodorants climbed 3%. 

Online supermarket Ocado again emerged as the fastest-growing grocer as it continued to take advantage of the shift to ecommerce. Its sales jumped 41.2% across the 12 week period, helping it grow its market share to 1.7%. 

Iceland was the best performing bricks-and-mortar chain, posting a 20.8% increase in sales, while revenues at the Co-op were up 13.4%.

The c-store specialist grew sales at more than double that rate in the North of England, where consumers shopped closer to home amid local lockdowns. 

Morrisons was the fastest-growing member of the big four, according to the Kantar data, as sales climbed 12.9%. 

Tesco was close behind, posting a 10.5% uplift, while Sainsbury’s and Asda grew sales 8% and 6.3% respectively. 

Aldi’s market share dipped year-on-year from 8.1% to 8%, despite a 10% spike in sales, while an 11.4% uptick in revenues at discount rival Lidl meant it maintained its 6% slice of the grocery pie.      

Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said: “Grocery growth tailed off in August as the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme got underway and people were encouraged to return to offices and resume normal routines.  

“Diners’ confidence built throughout the month and footfall increased* during each week of the scheme, culminating in the final bank holiday Monday when dining out accounted for a two and a half times greater share of consumer spend than the pre-Covid average.”