Rain washes out Jubilee sales boost

Supermarkets experienced the worst rate of sales growth in June for the past seven years despite the boost provided by the Jubilee celebrations as the wettest June on record kept shoppers away from stores, according to the latest Nielsen figures.

High Street

Retailers reported a 3.8% year on year rise in sales in the three months ending 23 June, despite the 12.5% uplift in sales during the week preceding the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Nielsen senior manager for retailer services Mike Watkins, says: “The ‘Summer of Events’ including the Jubilee, the Euro 2012 football and the London 2012 build-up, couldn’t prevent the poorest early summer period of sales growth since 2005. There was no sustainable uplift in food sales during June despite these events and promotional discount activity being maintained at 35% of FMCG sales.”

Sales of “sharing products” such as  beers, wines, spirits and crisps and snacks did, however, increase during June  as consumers look to entertain at home during the Jubilee and European football championships.

Asda and Sainsbury’s out performed their ‘big four’ rivals Tesco and Morrisons with the strongest sales growth in June, increasing +7.5% and +6.2% respectively.

Discounters Aldi and Lidl continue to outperform the market, achieving 31% sales growth bewteeen them during the quarter.

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