Covid-19 - Neighbourhood Retailer

Promotions help keep grocery price inflation steady

Caroline Rainey — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 15:39:12 +0000

Grocery price inflation held steady at 3.3% in February 2025 thanks to retailer promotions, as spending on deals rose again.

Items bought on offer now account for 27.6% of sales – a rise of 0.3 percentage points on last year.

Premium own-label lines also continue to be popular, growing at 13.3% this month, as people seek cost-effective ways to treat themselves.

The latest inflation update from Kantar reveals that take-home sales at the grocers rose by 3.6% over the four weeks to 23^rd February, compared with one year ago.

In their latest data, Kantar has examined how consumers’ grocery habits have evolved in the five years from the first covid-19 lockdown, looking at areas from lifestyle to loyalty.

One of the most interesting changes has been a move to simpler eating habits, observed Sally Ball, head of retail at Kantar, as shoppers look for convenient shortcuts to make lives easier.

“People are taking less time to prepare meals, and prep time in the evening for example, has declined from almost 34 minutes in 2020 to 31 minutes in 2024,” said Sally Ball.

“Back in 2020, we didn’t know just how big an impact the covid-19 pandemic would have on our lives, but five years on we can get a picture of its lingering effects on consumers.

“We haven’t gone back to old patterns and shopping trips remain below pre-pandemic times. Households made one less visit to the supermarket in February 2025 than in 2020, while online shopping appears to have stuck, taking a 12.3% market share this month versus 8.6% in February 2020.”

Kantar consumption data shows that people are now using fewer ingredients when making food, both at lunch and in the evening. They are also snacking less often too, dropping more than 330 million occasions in 2024 versus 2020.

“Of course, it’s hard to untangle the cost-of-living crisis from any post-covid analysis, and the other big headline of the past few years has been consumers’ hunt for value,” added Sally Ball.

“You might think that people would shop around more to find the best deals but in fact, that’s not the case. Households visited just under five different grocers this month, the lowest level in February since 2021. The growth of supermarket loyalty schemes is partly behind this as shoppers use them to unlock exclusive discounts.”

Since Clubcard first hit the scene in 1995, Tesco has risen to become Britain’s largest grocer – up from second place 30 years ago. It now holds 28.3% of the market in the 12 weeks to 23^rd February 2025, while its sales growth is at its highest since March 2024 at 5.8%.

M&S has also continued its growth trajectory with grocery sales climbing by 12.2%** across its bricks-and-mortar stores.

Turning to the discounters, Lidl has seen its portion of the market rise by 0.3 percentage points to 7.3% compared with February 2024, with sales up by 8.1%.

Sainsbury’s made gains in the 12 weeks to 23^rd February, increasing its share of the market from 15.5% to 15.7% compared to this time last year, while Asda has 12.6%.

Convenience retailer Co-op remained in growth, giving it a market share of 5.1%. Spending at frozen food specialist Iceland was 0.7% higher, maintaining a share of 2.3% – the same as this time last year.

**With a higher proportion of clothing and general merchandise in its sales mix, M&S does not fall under the definition of ‘grocers’ using the Till Roll methodology on which the Kantar Grocery Market Share release is based. For this reason, a comparable market share number is not provided for M&S. The M&S growth number quoted in this update is for FMCG sales only, while the figures for grocers in the Grocery Market Share table cover total spending through supermarkets’ tills.

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Wilko apologises for saying staff could work with Covid

Linda Stewart — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 10:27:06 +0000

Retail chain Wilko has apologised for “some miscommunication” after it told staff they could continue to work if they tested positive for Covid.

In a memo, the company said staff with the virus could continue to work in stores if they felt well enough to.

Wilko confirmed the memo was sent out and the firm has since made a U-turn.

“When we get something wrong, we hold our hands up, admit it, and work to correct the situation,” the firm said.

Jerome Saint-Marc, Wilko chief executive, said he wanted to “reassure all our customers and team members” that the company’s advice to staff with Covid symptoms or those who test positive was to stay at home and avoid contact with others.

“As throughout our 92 years on the High Street, the safety and wellbeing of our shoppers and teams is at the heart of our business and we’re truly sorry for any understandable concerns our communications may have raised,” he added.

People with Covid in England are no longer legally required to self-isolate with all restrictions now removed, but it is still recommended.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, people are still asked to self-isolate after a positive test.

In Wilko’s initial memo to staff, the company, which has 414 stores in the UK, said: “If you test positive for Covid-19 and feel well you can continue to come to work, if you feel too unwell you can follow the absence policy.”

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Finnebrogue warns of food production standstill if Covid 7-day isolation rules continue

Linda Stewart — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 09:55:02 +0000

A leading figure at Co Down food company Finnebrogue Artisan has warned that production lines could grind to a halt if the requirement of seven-day isolation for Covid-19 cases continues.

Jago Pearson, chief strategy officer at the Downpatrick-based business, has called on the Government to reduce the period to five days.

“For food production, the largest manufacturing sector in Britain, mass quarantining of healthy workers threatens to grind production lines to a halt,” said Mr Pearson, writing in the Belfast Telegraph.

The company employs 1,200 people in the manufacture of sausages, bacon and plant-based products. It is a major supplier to UK supermarkets.

Mr Pearson said: “We currently have up to 5% absence attributable to Covid, but are concerned this will rise in coming weeks without action on isolation rules.

“Anything over 10% will put our production lines under significant pressure.”

New rules have cut the previous requirement for a 10-day self-isolation period to seven days, provided a patient can provide negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven, but Prime Minister Boris Johnston has said he would consider cutting the isolation period if it could be shown not to increase infection.

Mr Pearson said that the policy of seven-day isolation was “putting the NHS under almost intolerable strain”.

“Iceland boss Richard Walker has called for isolation to be cut to five days. His call will be echoed by the whole food industry,” he said.

“We have done so much to keep our staff safe throughout the pandemic by implementing advanced protection and prevention measures at considerable cost.

“Their efforts to feed the nation have been extraordinary. But now we need Government to relax isolation rules — not just to save the NHS — but our essential food industry too.”

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Community Pharmacy NI urges customers not to hoard lateral flow tests

Linda Stewart — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 11:22:47 +0000

Demand for lateral flow tests in Northern Ireland is outstripping supply, according to Peter Rice, the chair of Community Pharmacy NI.

Warning patients only to get the tests if they need them, he said the main problem is getting supplies out from the central store to pharmacies.

At the end of last month, new Covid-19 testing measures were put in place to cope with the rise in demand for PCR tests as the Omicron variant spread.

Fully vaccinated people who are identified as close contacts are now advised to take daily lateral flow tests for 10 days following their exposure, but these tests have been hard to come by for many because of the rise in demand.

“The supply is dealt with through one of our wholesalers, but they’re obviously having to focus on the supply of medicine first and foremost,” Mr Rice said.

“It means each pharmacy only gets one box of lateral flow tests per day and in some cases that box is used up within the first hour or so of getting it.”

Liaising

Mr Rice said pharmacies have been in discussion with the Department of Health, but as the supply is a four-country service they have had to make representations to the Department of Health in England.

“We’ve been liaising with the Department of Health hopefully to increase the supplies so instead of getting one box there’s the potential to get two boxes,” he said.

“But at the minute it’s just a matter of being patient. If the public can realise that obviously pharmacies are under quite significant pressure with Omicron, with staff shortages and with the increased workload of coronavirus.

“So we’d really ask the public to be patient and only come forward if they need the testing kits and not to be hoarding them.”

A Londonderry pharmacist has said his business is more stretched now than any other stage of the pandemic.

Liam Bradley, who has 12 pharmacy branches across Northern Ireland, said he has had to reduce opening hours because of the number of staff self-isolating.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Mr Bradley said he believes the situation is going to get worse before it gets better.

“We’ve never had a situation like this before where we’ve had more than one pharmacist off at a time,” he said.

“It really has meant that we are juggling staff around making sure that we have a pharmacist in each branch, so that the branch can serve the community in which it is based.”

Mr Bradley said there had been huge demand for lateral flow tests.

“The Department of Health released a huge number of lateral flow tests into community pharmacies on Monday, but they are all gone,” he said.

“We got enough supplies that I thought it would have done us several weeks, but they were used up within a day and a half.”

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NI’s community pharmacies surpass 250K vaccination milestone

Linda Stewart — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 10:31:38 +0000

Northern Ireland’s community pharmacies have now administered 250,000 COVID-19 vaccinations as the professional teams continue to push ahead with the expanding vaccination service.

The 250,000-vaccine milestone encompasses the primary and booster vaccinations administered since the sector’s inclusion in the vaccination programme in March 2021.

Community pharmacy is now the main provider of first and second COVID-19 vaccination doses as well as delivering the booster vaccination to those eligible through community pharmacy (currently those aged over 30 and three months on from their second vaccine dose).

Over 250 community pharmacies are currently providing the Moderna booster vaccination for all those who are eligible.

Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI, Gerard Greene said: “Reaching this significant milestone is a credit to the work and dedication of our community pharmacy teams. The network joined the vaccination programme back in March and since then has been working incredibly hard to maximise the levels of protection against COVID-19 across our communities.

“Administering 250,000 vaccines in nine months shows the value of accessible and convenient community pharmacy locations and community pharmacy teams have played a significant role in getting overall numbers to where they are today.

“During the recent Community Pharmacy ‘Big Jab Weekend’ over sixty local pharmacies vaccinated over 11,000 people with their COVID-19 vaccine or booster, which is a tremendous achievement.

Busy week

“As we approach some of the busiest weeks in the year for community pharmacy, our pharmacy teams will be working hard to dispense the medicines patients will need for the Christmas and new year holiday periods. I would ask the public to be patient as this may affect the availability of the COVID-19 vaccination service at some community pharmacies in the lead up to and over the festive season.”

Sean Grimley, community pharmacist at Pharmacy Plus said: “As a community pharmacist, I’ve seen daily the benefit of providing the COVID-19 vaccine to those living locally in the community. Community pharmacy is the first choice for many in our neighborhoods, including the elderly and those unable to travel, due to our convenient location and the fact that patients trust us. It has been really encouraging to be able to provide primary and booster jabs to our patients and support them throughout this period.

“Working in the community, we are live to the concerns from patients in relation to increased COVID-19 transmissibility and ease of access to vaccines which is why it is so important that we continue to provide all doses required to give the maximum protection possible and allay the concerns patients might have.”

To find your nearest participating community pharmacy, visit: http://www.hscboard.hscni.net/booster-covid19-vaccination/

Caption: (L-R): Community pharmacist, Ryan McKinstry; pharmacy team member, Claire McQuade; Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI, Gerard Greene; pharmacy team member, Marjorie McCowan; and community pharmacist, Liam Grimley.

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