UK supermarkets secure best Christmas on record as online sales double
Online share of UK grocery sales doubled in December, helping to drive supermarkets to their biggest Christmas on record.
A total of 8.5m households shopped for their Christmas groceries online this year, up almost 3m compared to last year and equating to roughly a third of all UK households.
This pushed total spend at UK supermarkets to almost £12bn in the four weeks to Boxing Day, with £1.3bn spent online.
While visits to stores decreased 10 per cent, shoppers increased their spend per visit to £20, up from £17 a year ago.
This marks the highest ever spend at Christmas and is only slightly lower than the all-time high of £22 recorded at the height of the lockdown in May.
Beer, wine and spirits was the fastest growing category, with sales of champagne and cremant sparkling wine jumping 18 per cent and 51 per cent respectively.
Many Brits also celebrated Christmas by experimenting with cocktail making, with sales of tequila, flavoured vodka and spiced rum all surging.
Lidl enjoyed the strongest growth over the 12 weeks to Boxing Day, with sales rising more than 20 per cent. Morrisons led the growth among the big four supermarkets with growth of 9.2 per cent.
Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said: “2020 marks the first Christmas where online shopping played a significant role in consumers’ shopping behaviours, with 85 per cent of the incremental sales in food and drink made online in the last four weeks ending 26 December.
“Although overall grocery growth was a little lower than in November, this takes into account the many challenges consumers faced around restrictions and cancelled Christmas plans.”