The prolonged heatwave in the UK and major sporting events boosted spending on summer items such as outdoor and gardening products, BBQ food and holiday clothing, with consumers judging Tesco to be the retailer that had promoted its summer ranges the best, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The company’s latest report ‘Summer in the UK 2018’, reveals that 43.3% of consumers spent on summer this year, including retail products and leisure. Despite spend on retail dominating, spend on leisure increased as a proportion of overall spending, as UK consumers took advantage of the great weather.

Emily Salter, Retail Analyst at GlobalData commented, “Price continued to drive retailer choice for summer products, as low price was an important influencer for 55.4% of food and grocery shoppers, and 54.0% of holiday shoppers. The significance of price was despite an increase in perceived financial wellbeing.

“Along with the heatwave, price-focused retailers could take advantage of the 46.6% of consumers who watched the FIFA World Cup, thus capitalising on the increase in overall summer spending, with retailers such as ASDA, Primark and Aldi increasing their purchaser shares across summer product categories.”

IMAGE FOR PUBLICATION: Please click here for chart ‘Who did the best job of promoting or communicating ranges for summer?’

Many consumers also rated price-led retailers amongst the most successful at promoting summer ranges, with ASDA, Primark, Aldi, Morrisons and Lidl all featuring. Grocers proved to be the best at communicating their summer products, as more consumers bought summer holiday products and general summer items, verifying the importance of value for money and convenience.

Salter concludes, “Summer provides grocers with a substantial opportunity to capture spending from disloyal shoppers, as 13.6% of consumers switched from their normal retailer when purchasing summer food & grocery items. The choice of more unusual products and quality proved to be important reasons for consumers switching to another retailer, so grocers should focus on product innovation to capitalise upon the demand for interesting, good quality seasonal goods”.

ENDS

Notes to Editor

• ‘*’ The survey data is taken from GlobalData Retail’s 2018 survey of 2,000 summer shoppers.
• Information based on GlobalData’s report Summer in the UK 2018

For more information, or for further comment, please contact us:

pr@globaldata.com / 0207 832 4399

For expert analysis on developments in your industry, please connect with us on:

GlobalData.com | LinkedIn | Twitter

About GlobalData

4,000 of the world’s largest companies, including over 70% of FTSE 100 and 60% of Fortune 100 companies, make more timely and better business decisions thanks to GlobalData’s unique data, expert analysis and innovative solutions, all in one platform. GlobalData’s mission is to help our clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative across a range of industries, including the healthcare, consumer, retail, financial, technology and professional services sectors. PR3143