Shoppers in Ireland spent €316 million on groceries in the week ending March 8, an increase of 2.4 per cent on grocery spend compared to the previous week and 7.6 per cent versus the same week last year, new consumer data released by Nielsen indicates. The significant jump in grocery sales is attributed to increasing panic buying amid health fears around Covid-19.
The global spread of the coronavirus disease has led to the closure of schools, colleges, pubs and a host of cancelled or postponed events, including St Patrick’s Day festivities across the nation. Nielsen says household and health and beauty saw the biggest hike in sales, with 17 per cent and 15 per cent increases respectively compared to the same period in 2019.
These categories rose by 31 per cent and 35 per cent respectively in the week ending March 8. Other categories showing major sales increases included petcare (17 per cent) in the last four weeks, rising by 19 per cent in the last one week. Ambient grocery, or shelf-stable food, also grew by 10 points versus the same four weeks in 2019, and 19 per cent in the last one week.
In the latest four weeks ending March 8, Irish supermarkets saw a significant increase in cupboard staples, including pasta (26 per cent), canned vegetables (25 per cent), rice (nine per cent), packet and tinned soup (22 per cent) and canned beans (17 per cent). Toilet tissue sales rose by 19.1 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Baby care is another area in which people are purchasing heavily, with the likes of baby milk (29 per cent), baby food (22 per cent) and disposable nappies (5.4 per cent). As expected, many health and hygiene products experienced a surge in sales, including hand sanitisers, which grew by over 1,000 per cent, reaching a peak of €113,000.
SOAP SALES
Soap sales reached €818,000, an increase of 231 per cent increase compared to last year. In the last four weeks, top selling hygiene products include disinfectant liquids (93 per cent), antiseptic (100 per cent) and household and personal cleaning items such as washing up liquid (14 per cent) and household bleach (14 per cent).
However – in the last week to March 8 – fruit and vegetable produce (6.9 per cent), bakery (4.7 per cent), frozen (4.9 per cent) , chilled (7.3 per cent), confectionery (5.7 per cent) and alcohol (2.7 per cent) all appear to be growing slower than the rest of the market in Ireland, due to the extreme over performance of other categories.
Nielsen’s Karen Mooney believes it is likely that we will start to see stronger growth in these categories in the coming weeks as people will have plentiful supply of pantry necessities and may resume purchasing some luxury items. Retailers are seeing an unprecedented rise in grocery sales as consumers look to stock up on products during the crisis.
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