[asset_ref id=”672″]
Online grocery sales will almost double over the next five years from £3.7bn to £7.2bn in 2014, according to a study by the Institute of Grocery Distribution.
In the study, UK Grocery Retail Outlook 2009 – Repositioning for growth, the IGD sets out three main areas of growth – online, non-food products, and convenience stores.
Non-food sales in UK grocery stores will increase by 40 per cent to £16.2bn in 2014, representing nearly 10p in every pound spent in supermarkets, it says.
At the same time, the convenience sector is projected to increase to £41.4bn in value from £30.3bn
Non-food sales through grocery outlets have grown by 6.4 per cent in the past year and are now worth £11.6bn – taking sales away from traditional retailers. The non-food market excluding grocery retailers’ sales dropped 0.8 per cent this year to £132.7bn.
Non-food products include clothing, furniture, homewares, DIY, gardening, home entertainments, electricals, books, toys, but not health and beauty or household and cleaning products.
The IGD report calculates that the UK food and grocery market is currently worth £146.3bn and forecasts that this spending will grow to £175.9bn in grocery retail outlets in 2014 – an increase of 20 per cent.
Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of the IGD said: “Food and grocery retailers have been steadily investing in non-food, both in-store and online and will increasingly reap the rewards, prospering in a value-conscious and convenience-driven marketplace.”
