Promotions and loyalty schemes target Easter shoppers
Lacklustre performances in the grocery sector continued in March with sales at the grocery multiples tracking at only +2.8% year on year (YoY) in the last 4 weeks according to figures released today by Nielsen.
This is slightly ahead of sales in the total grocery market which stood at +2.2% YoY in the 4 weeks to March 20th (source: Nielsen Scantrack).
Mothering Sunday promotions helped to boost sales in categories such as confectionery (+16.3%), alcohol (+6.9%) and general merchandise (+6.6%) versus last March but categories such as packaged grocery (-0.3%) and bakery (-1.3%) have seen sales values decline as food inflation falls.
Mike Watkins, senior manager retailer services at Nielsen commented: ”All of the top six retailers are attracting greater numbers of shoppers but these shoppers are fickle and continue to shop around. Because of the customer churn rates, we are seeing a race for differentiation amongst the top grocers in the run up to Easter. Tesco continues to successfully use Club Card offers to maximise spend from loyal shoppers and the retailer is continuing to grow market share.”
“Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are using in-store promotions to increase shopper spend and to leverage their strengths in fresh foods and liquor. Asda has seen value sales growth slow the most as inflation slowed and as we begin to exit the depth of the recession. The retailer can be expected to drive volume growths going forward. Discounters, after a difficult start to the year, achieved +2.8% growths in the last 4 weeks.”
