U.K. grocery sales ease (NOMD)
In the 12 weeks ended May, 16 grocery sales in the U.K. decreased 0.4%. Total grocery visits increased by 58 million in the period compared to a year ago. The largest traffic increase was in London, where visits were up by 25%. As visits have increased, basket size has fallen as people no longer consolidate shopping trips. The Centre for Retail Research estimated that 46.6 million Britons visited on-premise establishments last weekend, the first weekend in five months that indoor visits were allowed. Spending on Saturday is estimated to have been £1.2B, a 41% YOY increase.
Online grocery fell from 13.9% in April to 13.4% in May. The discounters outperformed in the latest 12-week period, with Aldi and Lidl gaining shares 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. Grocery inflation was -1.2%, the largest decrease since August 2016, with promotions increasing compared to last year. The U.K. is Nomad Foods’ largest market at ~30% of sales before the acquisitions.
Organic food sales (GO)
Organic food sales grew 12.8% in the U.S. in 2020, according to the Organic Trade Association. Sales of organic food reached $56.4B benefiting from the shift to at-home consumption. Organic food sales were nearly 6% of total food sales. Fresh organic produce sales grew nearly 11% to $18.2B. More than 15% of the fruits and vegetables sold in the U.S. are now organic. Grocery Outlet carries a large amount of organic food at discount prices making its value proposition unique.
On-premise draft beer improves (BUD)
According to BeerBoard, which tracks $1B in draft sales nationwide, the open rate increased 1% point to 93% for establishments open and pouring beer for the weekend of May 20-23. The open rate had been 92% for the previous six reporting periods going back to Feb. 25-28, as seen in the following chart. The closed 7% may represent businesses that have permanently closed during the pandemic. Data Essential reports that about 10% of the 778,807 restaurants existed before the pandemic closed for good.
Nationally the volume of beer poured compared to 2019 was 38% lower, improving 2% from two weeks earlier. Compared to the weekend of May 6-9, the volume was up 9.2%. The volume poured in Florida was 35% lower than in 2019, while Texas was 32% lower. On the other end, Minnesota’s volume was 61% lower while Illinois was 51% lower. The volume share for imports was 16.2%, down from 16.3% for the previous reporting period of May 6-9. Craft was up to 33.8% from 32.6% and domestic lost 1.1% to 50.0%.
34% of adults visited bars and restaurants for Mother’s Day, while 23% visited an on-premise business for Cinco de Mayo, according to CGA, a market research firm that tracks on-premise sales. For the week ended May, 15 average outlet sales were up 12% week over week. It was the fourth consecutive week of sequential growth. New York had the largest sales velocity increase compared to the prior week of +17%, followed by Illinois +16%, Texas +13%, and California. Florida had the smallest increase of +8%.
