Cold, Damp April Drives UK Supermarket Growths into Reverse, Compared to Bumper 2011 Easter

Contact: Neil Beston, Tel: 020 3103 3959

London, Thu 10 May 2012 – Sales growths suffered last month at UK grocery retailers as the cold and wet weather compounded unfavourable comparisons with the hot bumper Easter of April 2011, according to the latest retailer performance figures released this afternoon by information and insights firm Nielsen.

Headline value YoY growth at the UK’s grocery multiples fell -1.6% for the four weeks to 28 April 2012 (down from +4.1% for March), with YoY unit growths falling further to -3.6% (from -1.5% for March)*.

“April was always going to be the most challenging and unrepresentative month for comparisons,” explains Nielsen senior manager for retailer services Mike Watkins.  “Going back 12 months, the late Easter, Royal Wedding and hot weather all contributed to make April 2011 the high point for food sales last year.  And this adverse trend has now been compounded by the recent cold and wet weather.”

“We get a clearer view of the underlying trend by comparing the seven days trading to Easter Saturday this year (7 April) with last year (23 April).  That period shows just +1.3% YoY value growth, which indicates that it was still an exceptional Easter week in 2011 and that consumer demand remains weaker in 2012.

“But as the weather turned cold and wet last month, there was good cheer for some categories.  Packaged Grocery four-week sales increased by +9.8% (+3.6% volume), while soup sales in particular were up +58% YoY for the last two weeks of April.”

Watkins concludes: “There was no change in the relative performance of the Big Four grocery multiples.  Asda and Waitrose had the best sales growth and are growing market share.  Aldi and Lidl also maintained good momentums with sales growths remaining particularly strong in Packaged Grocery.”

* source: Nielsen Scantrack

The figures in the table are based on 12 weeks sales through to 28 April 2012 compared with the same 12 week period in 2011.  Source: Nielsen Total Till, Nielsen Homescan

About Nielsen Homescan Total Till:
Unless otherwise stated, data is based on all purchases, bar-coded and non bar-coded, brought back into the home from any outlet by an in-home scanning panel of more than 14,500 households. Total spend includes all items stocked by any outlet, including grocery, general merchandise and clothing.

About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.