shopper fruit and veg

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  • The report showed in-store grocery shopping grew its share of occasions at breakfast, dinner and snacking

  • Him and MCA expected numbers to rise further as lockdown restrictions slowly ease 

 

Shoppers are returning to supermarkets as lockdown measures continue to ease across the UK, according to the latest weekly survey from Him and MCA Insight.

The week nine Channel Pulse (w/c 18 May 2020) report on shopper and consumer behaviour across all UK food and drink channels showed in-store grocery shopping grew its share of occasions at breakfast, dinner and snacking.

Grocery in-store most notably increased its share at dinner (+6.5ppts), but also at breakfast (+1.5ppts) and snacking (+0.3ppts).

The increases come as lockdown restrictions slowly ease and more freedom around out-of-home activities is permitted. With other retailers outside the food and drink industry set to open from 15 June, Him and MCA said they expected the number to continue to rise.

However, as reported in the Him and MCA Insight UK Recovery Report 2020, online grocery services will remain in high demand even when lockdown ends and the UK moves into “adjusted normality”.

The latest Channel Pulse showed the grocery delivered channel increased its share of occasions at breakfast (+2.1%), lunch (+0.25%) and snack (0.2%).

For shoppers, price is growing in importance, the survey also revealed. Price as a need has increased across lunch (+4ppts), dinner (+3ppts) and snack (+11ppts) occasions, as coronavirus squeezes household incomes.

“With lockdown measures starting to ease and shoppers given more freedom on how much time they spend outside of their homes, we have seen an increase in the use of the grocery in-store channel,” said Blonnie Walsh, head of insight at Him & MCA Insight.

“However, this increase is at the expense of out-of-home delivered, which saw declines across all meal occasions. Grocery delivered continues to perform strongly, with those most vulnerable still advised to shield, but also those not necessarily shielding have settled into a routine of using delivery services.

“As reported in our UK Recovery Report, we expect demand for grocery delivery to remain for some time after lockdown ends.”

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