Festive food sales to hit £19bn this Christmas

New IGD ShopperVista research released today shows six out of ten shoppers plan to shop around more compared to last year to secure the best deals.

The study showed 41% intend to do more shopping around to find the best quality products.

The rampant march of the discount supermarkets looks set to continue at Christmas. Four out of ten shoppers said they will use discount supermarkets more this festive period compared to last year – 36% of which were AB shoppers.

Kantar Worldpanel data released yesterday showed Aldi’s sales grew 31.1% and Lidl’s 13.8% in the 12 weeks to November 10.

Families with children under five are particularly interested in using discounters with 53% intending to visit them, the research showed.

IGD chief executive Joanne Denney-Finch said: “Many retailers have been investing heavily throughout the year to improve the shopping experience and encourage more people to visit their stores. We’ve seen more imaginative merchandising, greater use of fresh food counters and an increase in ‘click-and-collect’ services which can help time-pressed festive shoppers to order their groceries online and collect at a time convenient to them.”        

“Food discounters in particular look to benefit this Christmas from our increased promiscuity towards grocery shopping. They’ve also become more appealing to shoppers through effectively communicating their quality and value for money.”