Sales of hand sanitiser in Britain’s supermarkets surged by 255 per cent last month, as hygiene-focused shoppers sought to stave off the novel coronavirus.
Cleaning product sales swelled by 10 per cent in February, while liquid soap sales increased by 7 per cent, new research from Kantar Wordpanel shows.
‘It’s unsurprising to see shoppers prudently protecting themselves from illness’, said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail at Kantar.
Alongside revelations of sky-high demand for sanitisers and soap, the latest findings also reveal that Lidl was the fastest growing supermarket for the first time since November 2017 in the last 12 weeks.
Lidl was the fastest growing supermarket for the first time since November 2017 last month
In demand: Supermarket sales of hand sanitiser rocketed by 255% in February
Lidl, which opened its 800th store last month, saw sales rise 11.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to 23 February, with nearly 900,000 more customers than at the same point a year ago.
Out of the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets, namely Asda, Sainsbury’s Tesco and Morrisons, Sainsbury’s was the only one to see a year-on-year rise in sales.
Shopper spending in Sainsbury’s rose by 0.3 per cent, with sales across its online and smaller stores creeping up. But, with ‘continued pressure’ from the likes of Aldi and Lidl, Sainsbury’s slice of the grocery market fell slightly over the period.
Shares in Sainsbury’s have jumped sharply this morning and are currently up 8.99 per cent or 17.45p to 211.50p.
In the 12 weeks to 23 February, year-on-year supermarket sales rose by 0.7 per cent last month, marking the biggest jump in sales since November.
Sales at Tesco and Asda dipped by 0.8 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively, while Morrisons’ sales were 2 per cent lower than the same period last year, and as a result its market share fell from 10.4 per cent to 10.2 per cent.
Sales: Aldi saw its sales rise by 5.7% in the 12 weeks to 23 February, Kantar said
Falling: Sales at Britain’s biggest supermarket Tesco fell by 0.8% over the period
Annual matters: Sainsbury’s was the only one of the traditional large supermarkets to boost year-on-year sales
Sales at Aldi jumped by 5.7 per cent over the period, with the group’s market share standing higher than Lidl’s at 7.9 per cent. The supermarket saw sales of food like pre-prepared salads and dips rise by 8 per cent, which sales of alcohol grew by 7 per cent.
High-end supermarket Waitrose saw sales fall by 1.3 per cent over the period and its market share is the second lowest of the big-name brands, with only Iceland behind.
While Waitrose’s sales fell over the period, its customer satisfaction levels remain streets ahead of the competition, particularly when it comes to the in-store shopping experience.
Meanwhile, the Co-op saw sales rise by 2.5 per cent year-on-year and online-based Ocado saw sales jump 10.8 per cent.
Market share: Supermarket market share breakdown, according to Kantar Wordpanel
The latest findings from Kantar also give an insight into how the nation shopped in supermarkets on Valentine’s Day.
According to the findings, only 45 per cent of shoppers celebrated the day of love, with 12 per cent buying alcohol from a supermarket for the big day.
Chocolates were the most popular gift on Valentine’s Day, given by almost a third of those taking part, while 22 per cent of participants chose to give flowers snapped up in a supermarket.
There remains fierce rivalry among Britain’s supermarkets vying to lure in shoppers to their stores and boost their online operations.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has led to a surge in demand for online supermarket shopping, with Ocado admitting last week that it was seeing ‘exceptionally high demand’ for its services.
Ocado said: ‘More people than usual seem to be placing particularly large orders’, the online grocer said.
It added: ‘As a result, delivery slots are selling out quicker than expected.’
With some shoppers already piling trolleys high amid fears of the coronavirus reaching pandemic levels, supermarkets have now reportedly drawn up contingency plans to ‘feed the nation’ if the situation escalates further.
Under the plans, supermarkets would work alongside suppliers to scale back the variety of available foods and groceries, instead paying attention to maintaining the supply of staple products, like hand sanitiser.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.