Late Easter sees supermarket sales slow in March
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Wednesday 02 Apr 2025
(Sharecast News) - Supermarket sales slowed in March, industry research showed on Wednesday, hit by the late timing of Easter.
According to the latest NielsenIQ data, total till sales growth was 2.7% in the last four weeks, down on the 4% rise seen in the previous month.
In-store visits rose by 6.8%, but online sales growth slowed to 0.7%. Spend per visit across all channels also dipped, falling 3.4% to £19.10.
NIQ attributed the slower growth to the later timing of Easter this year, as well as Mother's Day falling on the last Sunday of March.
It also flagged ongoing caution among consumers in light of higher household bills and a rise in food inflation, to 2.4% year-on-year.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said: "Shopping behaviour continues to evolve, with consumers increasingly shopping around for the best prices and offers while looking to stretch budgets ahead of planned rises to essential bills at the start of April."
Among individual grocers, discounters were responsible for 18.1% of all fast moving consumer goods sales in the first quarter, the highest in two years.
Aldi saw sales rise 5.4% in the 12 weeks to 22 March, giving it a 10.5% market share. Rival Lidl posted a 9.1% jump in sales, giving it a 7.6% market share.
Tesco, the UK's largest grocer with a 25.9% market share, reported a 5% increase in sales. At J Sainsbury, they rose 4.5%.
But sales tumbled 5% at Asda, cutting the privately-owned grocer's market share to 11.7%, while Morrisons saw sales tick only 0.4% higher. Both have been hit especially hard by competition from discounters as well as larger rivals such as Tesco.
Online-only Ocado saw sales spike 17.1%, lifting its market share to 1.9% from 1.7%.
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN