Brits spent £415 million in supermarkets the day before the royal wedding

UK grocers celebrated a huge windfall the day before the royal wedding as Brits stocked up on more than £400 million worth of food and drink in 24 hours.

A heat wave, the royal wedding and FA Cup Final all provided a boost to the supermarket sector this month, according to the latest market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

Sales of non-alcoholic beers were noticeably higher, according to the analysis, rising by 64% over the past month.

While businesses in the on-trade predicted a “super Saturday” with up to 100m pints being poured in pubs and bars, the Friday before saw a “particularly noticeable spike” in grocery sales, according to Chris Hayward, consumer specialist at Kantar Worldpanel, with supermarkets collecting £415 million in revenue in one day.

The figures reveal that Sainsbury’s, the UK’s second biggest retailer, posted the lowest sales growth over the past 12 week period and continued to lose market share.

The decline comes after Sainsbury’s confirmed plans to aquire Asda and become a subsidiary of Walmart in a deal thought to be worth around £12 billion, a move which experts have said could “transform” the country’s retail market.

Sainsbury’s and Asda had combined revenues of £51 billion in 2017, and according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel, hold a 15.7% and 15.4% share of the grocery market respectively. Tesco, meanwhile, has a 27.8% share.

While Sainsbury’s share has slipped by 0.2 percentage points since the deal was announced, Haward said that Asda is still performing well.

“The retailer continues to prove popular with young families, while an increase in spend per trip – up £0.56 to £26.88 on average – has helped buoy sales. Asda’s e-commerce offering is also proving a winner among shoppers – the grocer’s online channel saw sales rise by 7.6% year-on-year.”