Portuguese spend 250 million in one week on supermarket purchases

The supermarket rush went up 14% with the epidemic. Portuguese spent 30 million more between February 24 and March 1 than in the same period last year.

The Portuguese ran to the supermarkets when the first signs of concern about covid-19 emerged. In Lisbon only, from February 24th to March 1st, the covid-19 effect tripled the consumer demand trend. In Viana do Castelo and Braga, the increase was 14%. In one week, the Portuguese spent 250 million euros to fill the supermarket trolley. 30 million more than in the same period last year, according to Nielsen barometer data.

On average, sales in hypers and supermarkets rose by 14% among food, detergent and hygiene and fresh produce categories, while since the beginning of the year the trend has been 6%, according to Nielsen weekly barometer data. After Lisbon (18%), the districts of Setúbal (16%), Leiria (16%) and Santarém (15%) recorded the highest increases in their purchasing volume. In the north, after Viana do Castelo and Braga, the district of Porto (13%) grew the most.

When it came to filling the supermarket cart, choices reflected their concerns: food, health and cleaning. Sales of canned goods (+42%), products rich in vitamin C (kiwi +39%, orange +37%, tangerine/clementine +37%) and basic products (+36%) recorded significant rises.

Health and cleaning concerns also led to a growth in sales of detergents and hygiene products, observable in the sales increase in the categories health care (+40%) and cleaning accessories (+38%), in which gloves are included. And it was the hypermarkets, with a wider range of offers, that benefited the most, with this type of stores registering growth of 20%, followed by large supermarkets (+18%) and small supermarkets (+5%). But it is expected that as the weeks go by, the question of proximity will become more dynamic, believes Nielsen.

Demand is expected to continue, with the company estimating that "there will continue to be significant increases in many categories of FMCG, as we have seen in the countries whose impacts of covid-19 were noted earlier".

Source: Diário de Notícias