FMCG sales reached €333.8 million during the first week of the official ‘lockdown’ in Ireland, when all non-essential trips outside of the home were prohibited.
The research captured by Nielsen on behalf of Checkout highlights that the week ending 5 April shows that sales increased by 11% compared to the the same week in 2019, but was down 4% versus the previous week.
Most categories declined during the period compared to the previous week, with health & beauty showing the biggest decline of 13%, although this still translates to the category showing a 18% increase versus the same week in 2019.
This week on week decline can be attributed to the fact that consumers are using up stock of non-perishable items that they purchased in previous weeks, which will likely result in growth continuing to slow for these categories.
For example, toilet tissue saw huge sales growth of 74% in March 2020 versus March 2019, but week ending 5 April sales were down 10% compared to the same week last year.
Other health & beauty categories which experienced strong growth in March, but have fallen into decline versus last year in the latest week include deodorants and baby wipes, which are down by 17% and 12% respectively.
Alcohol Sales
With pubs continuing to be closed for the foreseeable future, alcohol was the highest growing category in week ening 5 April, with sales up 58% to €38.1 million compared to the same week in 2019 and was up by 6.3% versus the previous week.
Within alcohol, stout saw the biggest growth, with sales showing 187% increase compared to the same week last year to €2.1 million.
Other strong growth vs same week last year was seen in spirit mixers (+94%), lager (+85%) and cider (+62%).
Whiskey was the highest growing spirit during the period with sales up 62% to €2.5 million compared to last year.
Source: Nielsen Total Store Read (Mults excl Dunnes + Symbol Groups + Forecourts + Discounters).
© 2020 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Nicole Farren. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
