LONDON (Reuters) – British grocery sales grew 5.5% in the four weeks to April 19, a slowdown from record growth of 20.6% in March when shoppers built up stocks before the country went on coronavirus lockdown, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar said Britons still spent 524 million pounds ($651 million) more on groceries in the four weeks versus the same period last year.
It said on average, UK households shopped only 14 times for groceries over the past month, a record low and down from 17 in more normal times. But the drop in frequency was matched by a corresponding uplift in the amount spent on each trip to 26.02 pounds – the highest figure ever recorded by Kantar and 7 pounds greater than last year.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)