British grocery store sales hit a record $13 billion in March after panic-buying frenzy made consumers shop more than usual

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British grocery store sales hit a record $13 billion in March after panic-buying frenzy made consumers shop more than usual
FILE PHOTO: Sainsbury's signage is seen at a supermarket and petrol station in west London, Britain, November 8, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Reuters

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Sainsbury's signage is seen at a supermarket and petrol station in west London, Britain

  • British supermarkets raked in a record £10.8 billion($13.25 billion) in March 2020, marking a panic-buying frenzy period as the most profitable for the UK grocery market.
  • Latest figures from market data provider Kantar show UK supermarket sales grew by the fastest rate year-on-year in over a decade during the past 12 weeks.
  • Overall sales were up 20.6% in the four weeks to March 22, Kantar found.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

British supermarket sales reached £10.8 billion ($13.25 billion) in March as households prepared for an extended stay at home.

The grocery market figures show sales grew by the fastest rate year-on-year in over a decade during the past 12 weeks.

Supermarkets saw unusually high activity on March 16 when the public headed to shops in high numbers. Rather than a widespread increase in using large trolleys, Kantar said the record sales figure was due to an increase in shopping trips and buying slightly more each time.

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"Given the media focus around the outbreak of COVID-19 in February, it's unsurprising to see shoppers prudently protecting themselves from illness. Sales of hand sanitizer increased by 255% in February. Meanwhile, other kinds of liquid soaps saw sales increase by 7%, and 10% more was spent on household cleaners," said Fraser McKevitt, Kantar's Head of Retail and Consumer Insight, in a statement.

Kantar data shows that the average household spent an additional £62.92 USD AMOUNT in the past four weeks, about five days worth of groceries. Shoppers in London increased their spending by 26% in March, the highest in comparison to other parts of the UK.

Consumers that foresaw a lockdown and wished to recreate leisure time spent at the pub had been stocking up, thereby boosting alcohol sales volumes by 22%, an increase of £199 USD AMOUNT million in the past month.

Online grocery sales were 13% higher than the same period in 2019, Kantar said.

Leading among the "big four" traditional grocers, Sainsbury's was the fastest-growing retailer with growth of 7.4% followed by Tesco at 5.5%, Asda at 4.9% and Morrisons at 4.6%.

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During a time of unprecedented consumer demand, all ten of the largest UK retailers had simultaneous growth during the past 12 weeks - unseen since October 2018. Kantar also said independent retailers such as Spar, Nisa, Premier, Londis and Costcutter's sales rose collectively by 16.1% in this period.

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