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Sparkling wine is top performing grocery category at Christmas

Published:  05 January, 2015

Sparkling wine was the top-performing grocery category in the supermarkets for the six weeks of Christmas growing by £25.4 million on the previous year.

Figures gathered by the IRI show a late boost in grocery sales - for the two weeks from December 13 to 27 - meant overall grocery sales were down just 0.2%, or £7.8 million, compared with 2013.

While sparkling wine sales were stellar once again, the more expensive French Champagne struggled, with sales down 8% on 2013 in the six-week period.

The Co-operative Group saw fizz sales up 60% over the festive period, and said it sold two bottles of Prosecco every second on Christmas Eve, predicting it would sell three bottles per second on New Year's Eve. 

A rise in sales of alcohol and chocolate contributed most to the overall upturn, with liqueurs and spirits performing best, but these showed little year-on-year growth over the six-week period, IRI said. Cards, crackers and decorations performed best over the full six-week period.

IRI identifies 27 individual Christmas favourite products, but only six of these increased their sales over Christmas compared to the previous year - the rest declined -5.2% in total. Spend on non-cream liqueurs was up 4.5%, and increased 2.3% on cream liqueurs.

Christmas super-sectors% change in sales value for 2 weeks ending December 27, 2014 compared to same period in 2013

Wine & champagne

4.7

Liqueur & spirits

4.8

Chocolate & xmas selection/novelty packs

4.4

Beer & lager

0.9

Poultry

-4.2

Gammon, beef, bacon

-4.1

Crisps, snacks, nuts, dates

-0.2

Cards, crackers, lights, wraps, trees, decos

10.6

Speciality cheese

3.1

Seasonal cakes, puddings, pies

4.5

Frozen desserts & cream

-6.0

Stocks, stuffing, gravy

2.3

 

Tim Eales, strategic insight director at IRI, said: "The timing of Christmas day 2014 may have been a significant factor in the way that grocery sales in the supermarkets ramped up towards the end of the Christmas period. Last year we spent 18.4% of our six-week spend on the 12 Christmas super-sectors - worth just over £4 billion - in the final week. This year that rose to 21.7%, with the big day late enough in the week for us to get much of our shopping done in the three days before, particularly for our turkeys. All in all, looking at the sectors and categories most associated with Christmas, sales in supermarkets recovered to put retailers in a better position than it looked like they might end up in four weeks ago."

Year-on-year comparison across the six-week Christmas trading period

Christmas super-sectors% change in sales value compared to same six-week period in 2013

Wine & champagne

0.0

Liqueur & spirits

2.1

Chocolate & xmas selection/novelty packs

1.5

Beer & lager

-0.3

Poultry

-5.2

Gammon, beef, bacon

-4.1

Crisps, snacks, nuts, dates

0.0

Cards, crackers, lights, wraps, trees, decos

5.8

Speciality cheese

1.4

Seasonal cakes, puddings, pies

1.6

Frozen desserts & cream

-6.9

Stocks, stuffing, gravy

0.9

 

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