Just like the rest of our lives, our shopping behaviours have been shaped by the various stages of lockdown and COVID restrictions throughout 2020.
As the year has gone by, our habits have adapted - the more time we spent at home, the more money we spent in the supermarket.
Here's a helpful recap to share the key headlines from 2020 and what we can learn as we head into 2021.
Jan - Feb: The year starts off steady
We saw the start of 2020 ticking along as usual. The grocery market was in 0.7% year-on-year growth in the 12 weeks ending 23rd February.
COVID began to impact UK grocery sales in February when we saw sales of hand sanitiser grow +255%, as well as growth in liquid handwash and cleaning products.
March: The biggest month of grocery sales ever recorded
The news was rife with stories of stockpiling but the extra demand in supermarkets was largely being driven by people making more trips and adding a few extra items to their basket.
An extra 503 million meals will be eaten at home every week for the foreseeable future.
Convenience stores began to see a benefit from the guidance to stay close to home.
April: We begin to settle in to lockdown life
We stocked up on food and household essentials but shopped less frequently than normal.
The average household shopped a record low of 14 times for groceries during April (normally 17 times a month).
Year on year grown slowed down significantly vs. March. However, fewer trips meant bigger baskets and overall grocery sales were £524 million higher than they were in April 2019.
May-June: More time at home means more groceries to replenish
The trend towards fewer, larger shops that we saw in April broadly continued throughout the first national lockdown.
People started to use their supplies from the start of lockdown and spend more on each visit to the supermarket.
The online channel really began to thrive with year-on-year growth of 75% in May. This growth increased to 91% in June as delivery slots became more widely available.
July: Restrictions ease and we venture out more
With the easing of restrictions and re-opening of non-essential retail, some of our pre-COVID shopping habits slowly started to return.
Sales from Convenience stores are still growing year-on-year, but they attracted 2.6 million fewer shoppers through their doors than at the peak of lockdown in April.
Despite the relaxation of the rules, many shoppers felt more comfortable staying at home and more than one in five households made an online order in July.
Aug: "Eat Out to Help Out" encourages fewer meals at home
Year-on-year grocery growth dropped to 9.4% in August. We were still eating more meals at home than usual but as the government encouraged us to "Return to Work" and "Eat Out to Help Out", there were fewer at-home meals than in previous months.
Supermarket sales of alcohol also dipped vs. July as many people felt more comfortable visiting their local.
Sept: More meals back in the home
Due to a combination of rising infection rates, the end of the "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme and new limits on opening hours for pubs and restaurants, we started to see eating and drinking move back into the home.
This resulted in an accelerated year-on-year sales growth of 12.3%.
Oct: The tiers come into effect
At the time we might have expected the new tiered system to create a spike in demand for groceries, but as we get used to lockdown life - sales continue to grow at a similar rate.
Nov: Lockdown 2 brings the biggest month of grocery sales ever recorded... Again
Despite the second national lockdown, shoppers were visiting supermarkets more frequently than they had been since the beginning of the pandemic. Used to our current way of living, most of us felt more comfortable in store than during the first lockdown.
Lockdown also meant more meals and more time at home for most households.
This made November the largest month on record for the supermarkets, with £10.9 billion spent over four weeks.
Dec: Christmas in lockdown
The latest lockdown restrictions will have a huge implication on both consumer sentiment and grocery shopping throughout December.
Whatever you are doing, I hope you'll be able to enjoy the festivities as much as possible.
Throughout the UK, we’ll be cooking Christmas dinner for smaller groups. This will include a lot of single-person households, especially in Tier 4. There will be less time spent in the kitchen and much more demand for easier ways to provide all the trimmings.
There will also be many out-of-home occasions coming into the home as we head into Christmas and New Year. We can expect another record-breaking month before 2020 is out.
What can we expect in 2021?
As restrictions continue into Q1, we'll continue to see higher sales of Take-Home grocery than usual.
Shoppers know what to expect from a lockdown. This means if there are any further restrictions shoppers won't adapt their behaviour so drastically.
Annualising 2020 sales will not be possible on many categories as we return to pre-COVID behaviours - plan accordingly.
The shoppers who are new to eCommerce will eventually return to store but they will continue to do some of their shopping online – make sure you’re doing enough to stand out on grocery.com.
The aftereffects of both lockdown and Brexit will continue to impact the economy into 2022 and beyond. This means we will cut back our spending in some areas – how can we help people who are trying to save money?
People will be looking for small affordable ways to treat themselves as a reward for making it through such a tough period – a great opportunity for many FMCG brands.
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