UK consumers spent an additional £1.9bn (€2.1bn) on groceries throughout March as they stockpiled food and other essentials in their ‘pandemic pantries’. According to new data from market research firm Nielsen, supermarket sales in the UK have jumped more than 20% year-on-year for the four week period up to March 21. During the week of St Patrick’s Day, UK grocery sales were up a massive 43% year-on-year.

As the UK government introduced tighter restrictions in late-March in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19 virus, UK consumers made almost 80m extra trips to grocery shops in March as they rushed to stockpile food and other essentials.

Alcohol and snack demand

According to Nielsen, frozen food sales in the UK are up an incredible 84% year-on-year, while alcohol sales are up almost 70%. Demand for snacks, fresh food and ambient foods such as packet soup, pasta and rice have also surged as consumers’ stockpile.

"With households making almost three extra shopping trips in the last four weeks, this small change in individual shopping behaviour has led to a seismic shift in overall shopping patterns," said Mike Watkins, Nielsen's UK head of retailer and business insight.

"As well as increased store visits, consumers opted to shop online – many for the first time. However, unlike stores there is a finite capacity for online grocery shopping, due to warehouse capacity and available delivery slots, and this will have limited the growth of online sales," he added.