Black Friday had a negative effect on grocery revenue and sales volumes last month as shoppers favoured non-food purchases, seeing the first drop in both since July.
New figures from Neilsen have revealed that in the four weeks to December 3 supermarket sales volumes dipped by 0.3 per cent, and revenue fell by 0.4 per cent.
Sales of general merchandise and non-food items were heavily influence by Black Friday, dropping 4.3 per cent. Shoppers favoured the heavily discounted online deals over November, meaning grocery shops were “more focused on food and drink.”
READ MORE: November online sales breaks records thanks to Black Friday
Nielsen‘s head of retail and business insight Nick Watkins continued: “It‘s not been a great year for the leading supermarkets but an extra day‘s shopping available, with Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, means this year should end on a bit of a high note with more visits that week, and sales up versus last year despite the ongoing price deflation.”
Meanwhile the discount grocers’ growth slowed dramatically, with Aldi‘s sales growth its lowest in four years at 8.5 per cent and Lidl‘s 2.7 per cent six times smaller than last year.
Despite a tepid November, the Christmas period is predicted to see a return to growth seeing supermarket sales hit £4 billion next weekend.
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