Figures out this morning from Market researcher Nielsen showed that we made over 79 million extra grocery shopping trips in the four weeks to March 21 we stocked up our “pandemic pantries”,
Supermarket sales jumped 20.5% while we spent an additional £1.9 billion pounds on groceries.
The data showed that in the week ending March 21, two days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the full UK lockdown to try to contain the coronavirus spread, sales rose 43% compared to the same period last year.
Nielsen found that in the four-week period shoppers typically added just one extra item to their basket during each shopping trip, with the average shopping basket increasing from ten items to eleven items, and average basket spend rising from £15 pounds to £16 pounds.
In the last week of February and the first week of March, shoppers focused on “stockpiling” necessities, such as medicines, cleaning supplies, pet care items and ambient groceries, such as pasta and rice. This continued through to the third week, with a consistent rise in these “pandemic pantry” items.
In the week ending March 21, many shoppers had already filled their cupboards with the necessities, so they began to fill their freezers too. Sales of frozen food during this week rose by 84% compared to the same period last year.
