After 13 consecutive weeks of decline it was super exciting to see total Prepackaged Grocery finally back in growth last week with dollar sales up 2.9 percent compared to the same time last year. Unit sales were also up 3.9 percent indicating we’re actually ‘buying more’. The frenzied panic grocery buying generated by the country’s first lockdown has played havoc with comparative numbers for the past couple of months. This year’s sales were no match for the stockpiling that occurred, which saw weekly grocery growth rates peak as 67.6 percent (w/e 22.03.20).
Craig Irwin, Managing Director of IRI says: “It’s fantastic to see positive year-on-year growth in our Grocery market. While it’s right that a lot of our metrics right now are versus 2 years ago, this little green shoot is really important.”
Leading the pack, based on actual value growth for the week, are the following categories; Confectionery, Toilet rolls, Respiratory tract, Snackfoods and Nutritious snacks. Toilet paper is back in growth with weekly sales at $4.1M compared to $3.2M for the same time last year.
Growth of Snackfoods & Nutritious Snacks shows that we’re more mobile again with muesli bars & baked snacks responsible for the bulk of the growth. And while Yoghurt is being driven partly by school lunches with multi-packs up 19.7 percent compared to a year ago, good growth is still coming from large packs, where much innovation is taking place.
