58 Million More Supermarket Visits As Vaccine Rollout Boosts Buyer Confidence | Economic news

Shoppers have made 58 million more trips to the supermarket in the past three months than they did a year earlier with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, industry figures show.

The increase was attributed to consumers feeling more confident to venture into stores after many of them had their shots.

But figures from data firm Kantar indicate that overall take-out grocery sales for the 12 weeks leading up to May 16 fell 0.4% year-on-year to £ 31.3 billion. .

This reflected a comparison with a period of “unusually high” sales in 2020 as buyers stocked up at the start of lockdowns, Kantar said.

But the data also revealed basket sizes were shrinking – with shoppers moving away from the weekly department store to return to levels seen before the pandemic.

The level of sales for the period was still £ 3.8 billion above the same level in 2019.

But it also seemed to reflect the COVID-19[female[feminine restrictions during the period – with alfresco dining and hospitality allowed from mid-April.

Another trend noted in the report was that consumers apparently thought more about their personal appearance – sales of shoe polish and hair styling products increasing by 50% and 26%.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “As the lockdown gets easier, people are going back to more normal ways and we can see it reflected in product sales. grocery store.

“Many of us around the same time last year ate all of our meals at home, so we bought extra food and drink.

“Now we are seeing a drop in take-out grocery sales compared to 2020, as people can eat in restaurants, pubs and cafes and can again buy food on the go, having a sandwich, for example, while they are on the move. at week-end.”

Mr McKevitt added that the rollout of the vaccine meant that “consumers are increasingly confident when they return to the stores.”

“The buyers …