New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier and detox after the Christmas binge have helped fruit and veg sales
Sales of fresh produce have received their customary boost at the tills in January, according to new figures from Kantar.
Typically, shoppers have an eye on wellness, not just their wallets, at the start of the year, and more than 10 per cent of the average consumer’s January grocery bill was spent on fresh fruit, vegetables and salad, the market analyst reported. The total of £1.2bn is £193mn more than was spent in December.
Nathan Ward, business unit director for usage and out-of-home at Kantar, explained: “Rolling into the new year, health tends to play a bigger role in our grocery choices. Over a quarter of take-home food and drink in January is chosen with health at least partially in mind, as shoppers tell us they want to eat less processed food and feel the benefit of fibre and vitamins.”
Overall take-home sales at the grocers rose by 4.3 per cent in January compared with one year ago, with grocery price inflation slowing to 3.3 per cent.
Kantar noted that for the four weeks to 26 January, retailers have been playing their part in easing consumers’ money pressures in the new year. Indeed, spending on promotions rose year on year by £274mn, accounting for 27.2 per cent of sales – the highest level in January since 2021.
“People also turned to non-branded products to help keep costs down, with own label as a proportion of sales hitting a record high of 52.3 per cent in January,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar. “Spending on supermarkets’ own lines was up 5.4 per cent, helped by consumers buying premium own-label products in the couple of days leading up to New Year’s Eve.”
Widespread sales growth
Among the supermarkets, Lidl’s sales rose 7.4 per cent over the 12 weeks to 26 January, making it three continual years of growth for the discounter, whose share hit 7.2 per cent. Aldi accelerated for the third consecutive month, with sales up 4.2 per cent and its market share increasing to 10.2 per cent.
Ocado was the fastest-growing grocer for the ninth consecutive month. Spending at the online retailer grew by 11.3 per cent, meaning it now holds 1.9 per cent of the market. Joint owner of Ocado Retail, M&S, has also seen a strong 12-week period of growth with grocery sales increasing by 10.5 per cent in its bricks-and-mortar stores.
Britain’s largest grocer Tesco gained the most share, and its 28.5 per cent hold of the market is 0.7 per cent higher than this time last year. It also saw its fastest rise in sales since April 2024 at 5.6 per cent.
Sainsbury’s outpaced the market at 4.2 per cent sales growth, increasing its share from 15.7 to 15.9 per cent. Morrisons has 8.6 per cent of the market, while Asda’s portion is 12.6 per cent.
Convenience retailer Co-op returned to growth, with sales rising by 0.8 per cent giving it a 5.2 per cent share of the market. Waitrose maintained a share of 4.6 per cent as sales climbed by 3 per cent.
Spending at frozen specialist Iceland was 1 per cent higher, maintaining its share of 2.4 per cent.
