Record-breaking 5.9 million people shop for groceries online but no sign of lockdown panic buying

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A record 5.9 million people shopped for groceries online last month but overall supermarket revenues remained flat as tighter restrictions across large parts of the UK resulted in subdued Halloween sales.

Households stocked up on food ahead of a new lockdown across England but there was little sign of the panic-buying witnessed back in March.

In-store and click and collect sales in the latest quarter were 9.3 per cent up on the same period a year ago, data from research firm Kantar showed.

The figures indicate households are hunkering down for a winter spent largely at home. Sales of scented candles, pot pourri and essential oils for diffusers grew by 29 per cent compared with last year.

Despite a variety of restrictions coming into force, including a "fire-break" lockdown in Wales and tiered systems in England and Scotland, there was no significant spike in overall demand in the most recent four weeks.

Welsh shoppers increased their spending by an average of £10 during the week lockdown started.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: "While there was some uplift in Wales, the increased spending did not provide any evidence of stockpiling, and initial figures suggest no sign of panic buying in England either.

"But one thing is always front of mind at this time of year – Christmas – and it seems many people sought to get ahead with gift buying before stores closed."

Online-focused retailers continued to benefit most with Ocado's sales up 36 per cent over the 12 weeks to 1 November.

Among the big four supermarkets, Morrisons performed best, with sales up 11.4 per cent. Tesco notched up a 9.1 per cent rise while Sainsbury's sales lifted 7.6 per cent.

Walmart-owned Asda saw the slowest growth of the big chains, at 5 per cent.

Iceland topped the tables for all supermarkets chains, with sales jumping 17.9 per cent higher as consumers looked to stock up on frozen food to see them through the coronavirus crisis.