The number of grocery products on promotion at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Ocado fell during December as the volume of promotions throughout the year made it difficult for the UK retailers to increase the level in the run-up to Christmas.
According to the latest data from just-food’s Promo Tracker, all four retailers had less items on promotion in December, seen as one of the key selling periods in the UK grocery calendar.
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Jonny Steel, spokesperson for mysupermarket-insights.co.uk, which exclusively compiles the Promo Tracker data for just-food, said UK grocers used promotions so often throughout the year that they find it tough to sell more on discount ahead of the festive period.
However, he noted that the average saving consumers were able to earn during December rose at each retailer apart from Sainsbury’s.
“There are so many promotions all year round now that it’s hard for the supermarkets to up it any further in the run up to Christmas. Their marketing focuses heavily on their promotions in December but the figures show that it doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more or better deals than in previous months,” Steel said.
“That said, the average saving per promotion increased slightly in all supermarkets bar Sainsbury’s, which means that there were slightly fewer offers, but better ones.”
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By GlobalData| Supermarket | Total number of SKUs | Number of Promos | % of all SKUs on promo | Average saving per promo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco | 30,438 | 7,795 | 25.61 | £0.96 |
| Asda | 26,420 | 5,180 | 19.61 | £0.65 |
| Sainsbury’s | 22,283 | 5,199 | 23.33 | £1.07 |
| Ocado | 19,260 | 2,504 | 13.00 | £1.27 |
| Brands | ||
|---|---|---|
| Brand | % of all SKUs on promo | Average saving per promo |
| Pringles | 90.2 | £0.90 |
| Actimel | 88.1 | £0.75 |
| Muller | 83.8 | £0.35 |
| Innocent | 80.4 | £0.51 |
| Batchelors | 66.9 | £0.29 |
| Activia | 66.4 | £0.28 |
| Rachel’s | 57.7 | £0.18 |
| Bassett’s | 57.4 | £1.25 |
| Sainsbury’s Italian | 57.4 | £0.45 |
| Walkers (Crisps, Snacks & Dips) | 55.1 | £0.44 |
| Fox’s (Biscuits) | 54.1 | £0.44 |
| Tilda | 51.2 | £0.75 |
| Bisto | 50.4 | £0.37 |
| Hartley’s | 49.4 | £0.19 |
| Organix | 49.2 | £0.24 |
| Hipp | 48.7 | £0.19 |
| Mr Kipling | 47.3 | £0.30 |
| Findus | 46.9 | £1.00 |
| Ambrosia | 44.5 | £0.21 |
| Crosse & Blackwell | 44.2 | £0.13 |
| Categories | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | % of all SKUs on promo | Average saving per promo |
| Frozen Pizza & Breads | 50.87 | £0.54 |
| Yogurts | 44.82 | £0.32 |
| Baby Food & Snacks | 42.42 | £0.21 |
| Crisps | 42.24 | £0.53 |
| Chilled Desserts | 39.68 | £0.29 |
| Frozen Desserts & Fruit | 36.62 | £0.55 |
| Frozen Vegetarian | 36.53 | £0.33 |
| Cooked, Prepared Meat & Poultry | 35.70 | £0.65 |
| Fresh Pizza & Chilled Bread | 35.05 | £0.62 |
| Frozen Ready Meals | 34.26 | £0.51 |
| Yogurt & Milk Drinks | 34.11 | £0.58 |
| Sausages & Burgers | 33.33 | £0.51 |
| Boxed Chocolates | 32.59 | £1.13 |
| Snack Meals | 32.25 | £0.22 |
| Block Chocolate | 30.70 | £0.35 |
| Packet Soup | 29.57 | £0.29 |
| Weight Loss | 28.66 | £2.83 |
| Fruit | 27.52 | £0.63 |
| Chocolate Biscuits | 26.53 | £0.47 |
| Tinned Pasta | 26.05 | £0.09 |
