Royal wedding and FA Cup final give supermarkets a boost

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Chelsea footballers shot to the top of the grocers’ Christmas card list on Wednesday as it emerged Britain’s supermarkets raked in hundreds of millions of pounds amid the festivities.

The royal wedding coupled with the FA Cup final added £415 million on the Friday before the May 19 events. Hot weather also helped as the grocery market grew 2.7% in the 12 weeks to May 20, Kantar Worldpanel data showed.

Morrisons was the frontrunner of the “big four” supermarkets – soon to be the big three if Sainsbury’s £14 billion takeover of Asda is approved by the competition watchdog – with sales rising 2.9% year on year. Asda was not far behind at 2.8%, Kantar said, while Sainsbury’s was the laggard at 1% growth. Tesco was up by 2.2%. Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s market share edged down as more shoppers switched to rivals.

But the major grocers have again been overshadowed by German discounters Lidl and Aldi, which continue to grab market share. Lidl’s sales were up 10.4%, while Aldi’s rose 6.7%. Their combined market share is 12.7%.

“The sun shone on the grocery market over the past month with record-breaking temperatures, a bank holiday weekend and the royal wedding fever all contributing to a bumper period,” said Kantar’s Chris Hayward.

Britons fired up the barbeque, with sales of burgers and sausages rising by 39% and 12% respectively, while non-alcoholic beer sales jumped 64%.