Tesco expects to generate grocery sales up to £30m from Ramadan this year – with some items seeing massive uplift during the Islamic holy month, which begins today and will see the longest days of fasting in 33 years as a result of coinciding with the summer solstice.
The retailer has predicted an average sale increase of about 70% for SKUs including chapatti flour, water, dates and cooking oils, with 10kg bags of rice flying off shelf at a rate of 4,000 a day - up 300% on last year’s volume - and 40,000 litres of chopped tomatoes being snapped up by shoppers every 24 hours up to Eid on 7 July.
More than 300 branches will feature offers on core Ramadan products, including 3-for-£12 on mix and match lines such as five-litre sunflower oil, 4kg Laila rice and 1kg East End ghee.
Tesco – which has more than 85 lines in its own label world foods range – has also ramped up its donations of Ramadan-related products, handing out £20,000 of goods to 20 mosques across London, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester and Bradford. Each place of worship will use the items for their charitable activities or pass them to a local food bank, said Tesco, which last year gave away the equivalent of £10,000 to 12 mosques.
Ahead of this year’s month of fasting, expected to be observed by the majority of the UK’s three million Muslims, the supermarket held a competition for London primary schoolchildren to design a poster about what Ramadan meant to them. The winning design, by seven-year-old Sangeeta Digpal from Tower Hamlets, was printed onto one of the dotcom vans used to deliver to the mosques.
“Ramadan is an important time in the calendar for many of our customers and colleagues,” said Matt Clarke, Tesco world foods manager. “As food plays a hugely significant role, we’re proud to offer a wide range of products and meals at great prices in over 300 of our stores.”
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