Wettest June on Record Drowns Impact of Jubilee on Supermarket Sales

Contact: Neil Beston, Tel: 020 3103 3959

London, Thursday 5 July 2012 – the wettest UK June on record has had such an impact on food retailing that, despite the very strong sales around the Jubilee weekend (2-5  June), the quarter ending 23 June was the worst early summer period for year-on-year sales growth since 2005.

Despite +12.5%* year-on-year growth in the week leading up to the Jubilee, sales growth at the UK’s leading supermarkets across the four weeks ending 23 June was just +3.8%* compared to the same period a year ago - according to the latest UK retailer performance figures released today by global information and insights company Nielsen.

In comparison, sales in this four week period were up +3.3%* on the previous four weeks ending 26 May, while unit sales grew by +0.3%* due to shoppers buying more products at the start of the month.

Nielsen senior manager for retailer services Mike Watkins: “The ‘Summer of Events’ including the Jubilee, the Euro 2012 football and the London 2012 build-up, couldn’t prevent the poorest early summer period of sales growth since 2005. There was no sustainable uplift in food sales during June despite these events and promotional discount activity being maintained at 35% of FMCG sales.”

Watkins explains: “Although inflation is slowing – down to +3.5%** in June on food - weakened consumer confidence continues to holds back spend.  However, we have seen some good sales growths in the ‘sharing’ categories of Beers, Wines, Spirits and Crisps and Snacks, with households entertaining at home – perhaps driven more by the Jubilee and Euros than by the weather.”

When looking at the individual grocery retailers, Watkins notes: “Among the top four supermarkets, Asda and Sainsbury had the strongest sales growth in the last four weeks, +7.5% and +6.2% respectively, compared to the preceding four weeks.  However, it’s still the discounters of Aldi and Lidl who are outperforming the market with a collective +31% growth in FMCG sales in the last 12 weeks.”

* Source: Nielsen Scantrack Grocery Multiples

** Source: BRC-Nielsen SPI June

The figures in the table are based on 12 weeks sales through to 23 June 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.