Lager brands were among the big winners during the World Cup, with NIQ figures showing value sales ahead by 12.9% in the four weeks to July 11, a period that covered all Scotland games and England’s matches up to and including the quarter-final with Norway.
The nation’s favourite beer style outperformed alcohol as a whole, which saw a sales uplift of 5% over the same period.
Stores sold 178.7 million litres of lager during the four-week spell, during which alcohol sales were also boosted by extreme hot weather and Wimbledon.
The four weeks were also boom time for RTDs, with sales ahead by 22.6% in volume and 31.1% in value.
No/low also saw a spike in sales, with value sales 17.9% ahead of the corresponding period last year.
NIQ’s figures also showed that rapid delivery achieved its highest share of the total market this year on the day of the England v Norway game, at 14%.
But it said that shopper sentiment remained impacted by concerns around finances, despite the summer sales boost, with 66% describing themselves as either severely or moderately impacted by the cost of living, a 7 percentage point increase since last Christmas.
A quarter of FMCG sales in the four weeks to July 11 were bought on promotion, as retailers invested in seasonal and World Cup-related offers to encourage spending.
Ocado and Marks & Spencer were the fastest-growing retailers, with Lidl also continuing to gain market share through new store openings and by attracting new shoppers.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said: “The last four weeks have been a strong trading period and the incremental purchasing has given a welcome boost to volume sales.
“It’s unusual to have like-for-like heatwaves and this means supermarkets will have missed out on some incremental sales, with most of the growth due to the World Cup.
“The good news is that the hot weather is expected to continue until at least the end of July.
“With the World Cup now over retailers will look to inspiring media campaigns supported by some new promotions, to encourage shoppers to keep spending with the summer holiday season underway.
“This will be important for sustaining growth ahead of shoppers reverting to their usual shopping patterns in September.”
Separate data from Worldpanel by Numerator, also released today, showed the highest shopping frequency since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
In the four weeks to July 12, shoppers made 497 million shopping trips, an average of 17 per household.
Trips to buy beer or cider were 8% up on last year and no/low shopping occasions were ahead by 10%, with 7.2% of the population buying into the category over the month.
