
UK supermarkets go on marketing offensive to overturn cautious shopper spending ahead of December
Contact: Neil Beston, Tel: 020 3103 3959
LONDON 22 November 2012 After a reasonable end to October, the UK's leading supermarkets have seen a slowdown this month in the year-on-year value growth of grocery sales, despite increased advertising spend, voucher give-aways and promotions aimed at attracting cautious shoppers.
According to the latest retailer performance figures released today by global information and insights company Nielsen, aggregate sales growth for the UK's leading supermarkets during the four weeks ending 10 November was up 2.0%* year on year. For the previous four week period (ending 24 October), year-on-year sales growth was 2.9%*.
Unit sales (volume) also slowed, albeit to a lesser degree, increasing by 0.8%* year-on-year compared to 0.9%* year-on-year growth for the previous four weeks.
In September, food inflation reached a two-year low, while the recent Q3 2012 Nielsen Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions survey showed that shoppers remain cautious about discretionary spending. These facts are reflected in the weakened value growth in General Merchandise sales at the leading supermarkets (-5% fall year-on-year), which is pulling down total store sales. However, the growth in Packaged Grocery remains stable at 3%, while the sales of affordable luxuries such as Confectionery/Crisps and Snacks continue to have good momentum at 5%. Cautious consumer sentiment, though, is reflected in the modest year-on-year sales increase of 2% for Beers/Wines/Spirits.
Explaining the figures, Nielsen's UK head of retailer insight Mike Watkins: It's been a roller-coaster year, so we've been forecasting a slow start to Christmas trading. With so many money-off coupons available, consumers are already planning where to shop.
The supermarkets are investing heavily in advertising. For example, during the week ending 3 November, Morrisons spent almost £320K on promoting its annual Christmas Coupon incentive; Waitrose was the highest supermarket spender on TV at just under £750K, whilst Tesco spent the most across TV and print at just over £1.9m**.
So, looking ahead, differentiated and inspiring advertising which really connects with consumers is expected to play an important role in attracting shoppers in December, particularly for the big Christmas purchasing trips from the 20 to 23 December which could be the biggest four days of sales in food retailing in 2012.
*Source: Nielsen Scantrack Grocery Multiples
**Source: Nielsen Ad Dynamix
12-Weekly % Share of grocery market spend by retailer and value sales % change
Retailer % share, 12 weeks
to 10 Nov 2012
% share, 12 weeks
to 12 Nov 2011
% value change vs same
12 Weeks Year Ago
TESCO
28.7%
29.3%
2.8%
ASDA
16.4%
16.3%
5.7%
SAINSBURY
16.0%
15.6%
7.4%
MORRISONS
10.7%
11.2%
0.9%
CO-OPERATIVE
7.0%
7.5%
-1.1%
WAITROSE
4.1%
4.0%
10.1%
M&S
3.4%
3.5%
3.9%
ALDI
2.6%
2.0%
38.9%
ICELAND
1.9%
1.9%
5.3%
LIDL
1.9%
1.9%
5.6%
The figures in the table are based on 12 weeks sales through to 22 November 2012 compared with the same 12 week period in 2011. Source: Nielsen Total Till, Nielsen Homescan
About Nielsen Homescan Total Till:
Unless otherwise stated, data is based on all purchases, bar-coded and non bar-coded, brought back into the home from any outlet by an in-home scanning panel of more than 14,500 households. Total spend includes all items stocked by any outlet, including grocery, general merchandise and clothing.
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...
17/09/2025
It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...
17/09/2025
During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing.
Discl...
17/09/2025
CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...
17/09/2025
PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...
17/09/2025
In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...
17/09/2025
Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...
17/09/2025
Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...
17/09/2025
Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...
17/09/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...
17/09/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...
17/09/2025
In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...
17/09/2025
Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...
17/09/2025
Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...
17/09/2025
Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026.
By
Colette Greenstein
September 17, 2025
...
17/09/2025
Ukrainian Students Find Creative Consonance' at Berklee Valencia Through ELIA's UAx Platform, six students from Kyiv joined Berklee Valencia for a week...
17/09/2025
Earlier this year Avid announced Kenna Hilburn as its new senior vice president of product. Recently Hilburn was promoted to Avids new Chief Product Officer, su...
17/09/2025
Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery
Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...
17/09/2025
NEW YORK Madhive has announced that the Fox Television Stations have joined its Live Sports Marketplace....
17/09/2025
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Sony Electronics has announced that it is partnering with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to provide state-of-the-art equipment, hands...
17/09/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that the first smart projector using its Roku TV operating system, the Aurzen Roku TV Smart Projector D1R Cube, is now avail...
17/09/2025
Wednesday 17 September 2025
UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...
17/09/2025
Jo Returns to FOR-A as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering...
17/09/2025
For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...
17/09/2025
Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway
The County Parade returns f...
16/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15...
16/09/2025
VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...
16/09/2025
ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...
16/09/2025
IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...
16/09/2025
Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...
16/09/2025
A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...
16/09/2025
Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...
16/09/2025
At DSEI 2025, James Dunne of L3Harris Maritime UK chaired a panel on aligning the supply chain to the warfighter, where leaders discussed modernising support fo...
16/09/2025
Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...
16/09/2025
College Football Scores Top Telecast in August with 16M+ Viewers on FOX, Followe...
16/09/2025
Collaboration marks the first SSP integration of Gracenote IDs, enabling show-le...
16/09/2025
AMSTERDAM The organizers of IBC2025 are reporting that 43,858 visitors from more than 170 countries attended the event, which had more than 1,300 exhibitors and...
16/09/2025
Wooden Camera announces the release of its new Accessory Collection for the FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55. The highlights of this collection include vital power soluti...
16/09/2025
Anton/Bauer, a leading manufacturer of mobile power solutions for broadcast and cinematic equipment, has announced the launch of Anton/Bauer Fleet Management, a...
16/09/2025
Teradek, a leading provider of video transmission and live production solutions, today announced the launch of Prism Jetpack, a groundbreaking 5G video contribu...
16/09/2025
Astera, the leader in wireless LED lighting solutions, announces the ultra-versatile SolaBulb. Building on the success of the Astera bulb family, SolaBulb intro...
16/09/2025
As the world gathered at TED2025 to explore the provocative theme "Humanity Reimagined", Clear-Com , supported by NETGEAR networking infrastructure, delivered f...