Kantar explores how shopping transformed in 2020 | WARC | The Feed

Kantar explores how shopping transformed in 2020

The global grocery sector has had a good pandemic, according to the latest data from research and insights company Kantar. The sector grew at an unprecedented 10% last year, compared to just 2.5% the year before, with an extra 67 million households globally buying groceries online.

Kantar’s Winning Omnichannel report looks at how the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed our shopping lives, summarizing the shopping trips of more than a million people globally.

The details

• As people were forced to cater for more meals at home, food buying was up 11.4% globally. Homecare products rose by 9.8% as everyone focused more on hygiene and cleanliness.

• Health and beauty took a back seat, however, as we stayed at home and socialized less – the sector was down 0.1%, a substantial decline when it’s considered this was the fastest-growing sector the previous year. Hand and body wash sales were a bright spot, however, with sales up from 6% growth the previous year to 16% in 2020.

• E-commerce sales showed a huge 45.5% increase, largely due to households switching to online groceries. Growth the previous year was just under 19%. E-commerce now accounts for 6.5% of global grocery sales. The strongest growth in online grocery shopping was in Asian markets – with 25% of groceries now bought online in China and South Korea.

Key quote

“2020 has been a transformational year for FMCG … From the stockpiling in Q1 to the continued shift of out-of-home consumption to in-home through the rest of the year and the lack of face-to-face social interactions, the impacts were felt across regions, countries, channels, sectors and categories. This environment has highlighted the importance of adapting to the unknown to find new growth opportunities.” Stéphane Roger, Global Retail & Shopper Director at Kantar, Worldpanel Division.