UK shoppers have dialled back spending after early summer heatwaves and a busy summer of sports, new data from NielsenIQ (NIQ) shows.
Total Till sales growth at supermarkets slowed to +3.7% in the four weeks to 9 August, down from +5.8% in July.
Despite lower spend per visit (-3.1%), in-store trips rose +6.2% as shoppers took advantage of promotions, which accounted for 23% of value sales across stores.
‘Dinner for Tonight’ shopping missions, quick, budget-friendly baskets aimed at home-cooked meals, are now the fastest-growing type of trip, making up one in five visits.
NIQ found that fresh and ambient categories performing strongly included dried vegetables and pulses (+28%), fresh pastry and dough (+15%), packaged grocery (+4.2%) and frozen fruit (+13.2%).
Ocado led retailer growth with +14.1%, while Lidl recorded +11.2%, attracting nearly half of UK households (49%) over the past 12 weeks.
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NielsenIQ head of retailer and business insight Mike Watkins said: “After the three heatwaves in early summer, this reset was expected and the slowdown in spend was felt across the industry.
“The exception being the discounter channel where growth was more buoyant at +6.6%. The convenience channel was particularly impacted with sales down -1.1% as was the online grocery channel at -2.2%.”
He added: “The start of peak summer holidays also disrupted shopping habits more than usual as the uptick in food inflation would have given many shoppers a reason to delay some non-essential spend for a few weeks. However, with shoppers looking to dine in at home, in the summer this often means more alfresco with barbeques replacing some meals out or ordered in. Supermarkets will be optimistic about a strong end to summer 2025.”
The slowdown in supermarket spend comes as food inflation jumped to 3.8% in July, adding extra pressure on households.
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