Alcohol and soft drink stockpiling expected in the UK ahead of Christmas

05-Oct-2021 - Last updated on 05-Oct-2021 at 14:21 GMT

Pic:getty/markswallow

A third (34%) of UK consumers either have or are considering purchasing food and drink for Christmas before the end of this month, according to a survey from Lumina Intelligence.

The survey found that 55% of consumers are somewhat worried following media coverage of stockpiling ahead of Christmas already: due to concerns about product shortages, as a result of Brexit, the pandemic, and the lack of lorry drivers.

The categories that consumers are most likely to stockpile in are confectionery; crisps and snacks, tinned and packaged products, alcohol, soft drinks and frozen goods.

Blonnie Whist, Insight Director at Lumina Intelligence said, “Christmas this year will be incredibly different to last, when travel restrictions and last-minute regional lockdowns ended most people’s festive plans.

“Consumers will be looking to make up for lost time and with no restrictions surrounding gatherings we can expect big celebrations.

“However, media coverage surrounding product shortages due to the HGV driver shortage, Brexit and Covid is concerning shoppers, with some already stockpiling ahead of Christmas and many more likely to follow suit.

“Retailers need to be prepared for Christmas preparations to start early this year and should expect a bumper year for sales, but also need to communicate clearly with shoppers to ensure purchasing behaviours do not hit the extremes of April 2020 when the pressures on the supply chain peaked.”

A nationally representative sample of 1,001 adults were surveyed across September 24-27.