WITH pubs locked down, booze sales at supermarkets in Northern Ireland soared by more than 31 per cent over the last 12 weeks, with an additional £18.5 million spent on beer, wine and cider, according to figures from industry analysts Kantar.
The grocery market across the north grew by 20.3 per cent over the three-month period, coinciding with the second national lockdown.
Tesco, which holds over a third of the north's market share, increased sales by 11.3 per cent year on year, but lockdown impacted shopping patterns as customers visited less frequently and made bigger trips each time.
Shoppers picked up 20 items per shop on average, an increase of 16.9 per cent compared with last year, and that added an additional £186 million to Tesco’s takings.
Sainsbury’s performed slightly ahead of Tesco at 11.6 per cent while Asda’s year-on-year growth improved from last month to 7 per cent. Shoppers adding more items to their baskets meant an extra £42.1 million spent in Sainsbury’s and £125.5 million in Asda over the period.
Lidl continues to achieve double-digit growth, with sales up by 17.4 per cent, and it gained 0.3 percentage points of market share this period to achieve 6.4 per cent of total grocery spend.
It encouraged additional shoppers through its doors, something other retailers struggled to achieve, and these new customers contributed an additional £7.1 million to Lidl’s overall growth this period.
Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, said: “With Christmas just around the corner, alcohol sales have grown well ahead of the market.
“While some shoppers stuck to their home-cooking guns in lockdown two, it appears many of us have swapped cooking from scratch for convenience as sales of frozen food were up 22.9 per cent.”
