NielsenIQ’s Total Till sales report for April has revealed a steep decline in beer, wine and spirits sales across UK supermarkets. Alongside confectionery, the alcoholic drinks category saw the greatest decline in sales (-17.6%) compared to last year’s data. Overall, grocery sales dropped 4.1% over the last four weeks ending March 26, continuing the monthly downward trend seen in 2022.

The report also found that UK shoppers have been spending more on private label products amid concerns regarding inflation. The share of sales for FMCG private label products has risen from 52.4% to 53.2% compared to a year ago, with overall sales of private label products dropping by 1.9%. Meanwhile, sales of branded FMCG products have fallen by 5.1%. 

Mike Watkins, NielsenIQ UK head of retailer and business insight suggested that shoppers are “re-evaluating what they spend” as the pandemic draws to a close. He added: “Whilst some of the changes in  grocery spend will be due to consumers simply having a different basket mix compared with last year, our data also shows that consumers are now increasingly shopping for private label products as part of their coping strategy.”

Watkins expects consumers to continue spending more on private label products as they continue “trading down” to “make more savings”.