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29
Oct
2020
Convenience store spending rises in Q3 as Brits stay local

Nights in, home improvement and school holidays boost average basket spend

Welwyn Garden City, 29 October 2020: Data collated from PayPoint’s UK network* of 27,500 local convenience retailers for quarter three (July-September) 2020 shows how Brits stayed loyal to local stores despite the freedom to shop further afield during that time.

Average shopping basket spend rose across the three-month period to £8.14, a rise of 10% over Q2 2020 (£7.39) and an 11% spike on the same period last year (£7.32). Analysis of PayPoint’s different product categories shows that the increase in spending has been spurred by trends such as the ‘big night in’, home improvement and extra time spent with kids during the school holidays.

A 69% increase in purchases within the ‘desserts and gateaux’ category (which includes family favourites such as apple crumble and jam roly poly), a 48% jump in sales of ice cubes and a 20% rise in beer purchases across the quarter, hint at many Brits entertaining at home even though pubs and restaurants had re-opened. Meanwhile, in keeping with growth of the wider home improvement category, convenience stores saw a 37% hike in spending under ‘general maintenance and work’ and 31% under ‘gardening and DIY’.

Finally, the school holiday period brought about a 29% spike in toy sales and a 25% increase in purchases of kiddies’ sweets, a category that includes Vimto chewy bars and Swizzles refresher bars among its best sellers.

PayPoint has also published its first Convenience Basket Register**, a quarterly glimpse of a ‘typical’ convenience store shop, with big sellers across six key product categories. Between July and September, the contents were:

  1. Hovis soft white medium bread 800g loaf

  2. Peters sausage roll (single)

  3. Robert Wiseman Dairies semi-skimmed milk

  4. Peperami Original 22.5g

  5. Cadbury’s dairy Milk chocolate bar

  6. Kinder Bueno bar

  7. Coca-Cola 330ml can

  8. Volvic mineral water

  9. Bobby’s Ice Snapper

  10. Party ice cubes (bag)

  11. Stella Artois 4-pack pint-sized cans

  12. K Cider 4-pack


Nick Wiles, CEO of PayPoint said: “Across the summer, the majority of Brits were able to shop wherever they liked after lockdown restrictions were lifted. However, many continued to frequent the local convenience stores they became so reliant on earlier in the year. What’s interesting is how shopping habits have changed during the past three months, with convenience stores becoming the source of items for all the family, whether that’s a special night in, keeping kids entertained or making improvements to homes. Data provided by our PayPoint One electronic point-of-sale platform can help retailers plan for, and react to, these trends.”

* Based on sites using PayPoint One's scanning functionality only

** The Convenience Basket Register highlights the top two selling items during the quarter across six categories of produce: bread & cakes, chilled & fresh food, confectionary, frozen food, grocery and off licence.

PayPoint Press Office

paypoint@mhpc.com
+44 20 3128 8100

ABOUT PAYPOINT

In thousands of retail locations, at home and on the move, we make life more convenient for everyone.

For retailers, we offer innovative and time-saving technology that empowers convenience retailers in the UK to achieve higher footfall and increased spend so they can grow their businesses profitably. Our innovative retail services platform, PayPoint One, is now live in over 16,500 stores in the UK and offers everything a modern convenience store needs, from parcels and contactless card payments to EPoS and bill payment services. Our technology helps retailers to serve customers quickly, improve business efficiency and stay connected to their stores from anywhere.

We help millions of people to control their household finances, make essential payments and access in-store services like cash withdrawals, eMoney, parcel collections and drop-offs. Our UK network of more than 27,500 stores is bigger than all banks, supermarkets and Post Offices together, putting us at the heart of communities nationwide.

For clients of all sizes we provide market-leading payments technologies without the need for capital investment. Our seamlessly integrated omnichannel solution – MultiPay is a one-stop shop for digital and other customer payments. PayPoint helps a wide range of consumer service organisations save time and money while making it easier for their customers to pay – via any channel and on any device.

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