Spirits soar as Christmas supermarket sales lag
Despite slowing supermarket sales, UK shoppers have spent £200 million on spirits in the run up to Christmas, an increase of £7m compared to last year.
UK spirits sales have markedly increased in the two weeks to 12 DecemberAccording to IRI’s Retail Advantage data, overall FMCG figures are down, with slowing sales of traditional Christmas cakes and puddings, sausages and bacon.
Measuring data from major UK grocery chains, IRI claims that total FMCG sales fell 1.6% to £4.9 billion in the two weeks to 12 December 2015. Food sales totalled £3.bn, down 1.3%, while non-food sales were £1.4bn, down 2.1% over the two-week period.
However, shoppers spent £630m in total on beers, wines and spirits (BWS), up 3.3% on last year. Of this, more than £200m was spent on spirits alone, an increase of 3.8% and the equivalent of an extra £7m on the same period in 2014.
Whisky made £74m in sales, while shoppers spent around £64.5m on white spirits – an increase of 5.6%. Rum also saw a slight increase with sales up 2.3%.
Sales of sparkling wines are also up by 11.6% over the two weeks to 12 December, including Prosecco.
“While consumers get into the spirit of Christmas, literally in many cases, it seems that some of the more traditional Christmas categories are in decline, including cakes and desserts, while Christmas baking items are also down,” according to Martin Wood, head of strategic insight, retail solutions and innovation at IRI.
“This could be down to people taking a more healthy approach to the big day, but it’s probably a little too early to say whether this trend will continue and we expect figures to bounce back during a busy Christmas shopping period this week.”
