Fruit and vegetable sales spiked by seven per cent over the 12 weeks to 16 July 2017 as shoppers tried to offset indulgent purchasing of ice cream and alcohol.
The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed fresh produce benefited indirectly from the high temperatures through being a healthy alternative, with a further £170 million spent on fruit and veg at the tills in June.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said price rises are no longer accelerating, with like for like inflation at 3.2 per cent, the same rate of increase as last month.
“June’s hot spell was good news for UK grocers, with sales particularly buoyant around the hottest June day for 40 years,” he said.
“Ice cream sales were up 34 per cent in June alone. Over the 12-week period, celebratory shoppers spent an additional £158m on alcohol. Fruit and vegetable sales also spiked – up 7 per cent – as shoppers parted with an extra £170m to help offset the summer indulgence.”
Premium own-label lines continued to outperform brands during the last 12 weeks, with sales up 6.7 per cent, and supermarket own brand lines now accounting for over half (51 per cent) of spending.
Lidl was the fastest growing supermarket, with sales growing by 19.4 per cent, followed by Aldi’s sales growth of 17.9 per cent.
Elsewhere, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons saw sales increase by 2.3 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively.
McKevitt said: “Tesco clearly sees its online business as a crucial component of its ongoing recovery, evidenced by its move into nationwide same day grocery delivery ahead of the competition.
“It remains to be seen if this investment will pay off – while it has the largest share of online sales Tesco overall is still losing market share, down 0.5 percentage points to 27.8 per cent over the past 12 weeks.”
Asda sales grew by 1.0 per cent year on year, while its new ‘Farm Stores’ range on meat and produce lines, are now in over a quarter of Asda’s baskets, generating sales of over £58m.
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