Figures show Britons stockpiling water and food tins, but not panic buying

Essentials added to weekly shops

Worldpanel by Numerator’s monthly grocery report for Great Britain found that purchases of key supplies increased in the 10 days after the campaign began. Sales of hand sanitiser were up 83% against the same period a year earlier, while bottled water rose 67%.

Tinned and jarred goods sales increased 37%. The number of people buying tinned meat each day rose 43%, or about 400,000 additional shoppers, but the typical pack size remained around 500g.

A Worldpanel representative said growth came from more people including checklist items in their weekly shopping, rather than filling trolleys with large amounts. The representative said this matched the government’s aim for household preparation.

Grocery inflation edges higher

Grocery inflation reached 2.6% in the four weeks to 1 November, compared with 2.5% in the previous month. The rate had eased during the summer before picking up again.

Ahead of Halloween, pumpkins cost about £1.20 on average, 12% less than a year earlier. Around 3.3 million households bought one, and the number sold was 10% higher year on year; sales of tubs of sweets rose 28%.

Lidl moves into fifth place

Lidl has overtaken Morrisons to become Britain’s fifth-biggest grocer. Its sales rose 6.6%, lifting its market share to 8.6%, compared with Morrisons’ 8.3%. McKevitt said many households would plan Christmas spending more carefully this year. McKevitt also described Black Friday as an important opportunity for shoppers seeking value on big-ticket purchases, while retailers hope it will start the golden quarter strongly.