Grocery sales shine as heatwave boosts demand - NIQ

23rd Jun 2026 11:14

(Sharecast News) - Grocery sales shone in late May, industry data showed on Tuesday, boosted by warmer weather and the start of a summer of major sporting events.

According to NielsenIQ, total till sales at UK supermarkets jumped 4.6% in the four weeks to 13 June, building on the previous four-week period's 4.2% uplift.

Driving the rise was particularly strong growth in the last two weeks of May, when the weather grew hotter and consumers looked ahead to the start of the football World Cup on 11 June. That helped offset slower growth in the final two weeks of the period, when sales rose by just 0.4%. NIQ said the wetter weather in early June likely discouraged spending.

Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said: "The arrival of hot weather boosted demand for summer essentials, with suncare, ice cream and refreshment-related categories among the fastest growing areas of grocery spend. Consumers made the most of the early summer weather and retailers adapted ranges to meet this demand."

Among individual retailers, Tesco's market share in the 12 weeks to 14 June was 26.3%, while at Aldi, it nudged lower to 10.1%. In contrast, J Sainsbury - the UK's second-largest grocer after Tesco - saw its market share edge up to 15%. Discounter Lidl also saw a rise, to 8.3% from 7.8% a year previously.

Marks & Spencer saw its market share improve to 4.1% from 3.7%.

Looking to the rest of the summer, Watkins said: "The second heatwave of the year will likely see another boost to sales into July, conveniently coinciding with the summer of sport. Yet we still expect lower demand into August, when the holiday season disrupts spending, [and] the economic outlook for September is still uncertain, with increases in mortgage and energy costs expected."