Holiday Sales 2008: The Definitive Report

Nielsen Wire — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:13:02 +0000

The early predictions were gloomy: the recession gripping the U.S. would make for a dismal holiday shopping season for retailers. And while many retailers certainly felt the effects of the economic downturn, holiday dollar sales in 2008 actually increased 5.8 percent or $99.5 billion across grocery and drug stores, mass merchandisers and convenience stores, according to Nielsen.

Categories that drove the highest sales spikes were musical instruments and accessories, with more than half of the purchases for the year made in the last eight weeks of 2008. Women’s and children’s fragrances, baking supplies and computer electronics products were also favorites.

Perhaps anticipating spending more time at home in the coming year, 10 percent of all homes bought new home entertainment equipment, with TVs accounting for 35 percent of those purchases. Almost two-thirds of those TVs were high-def units. Video game consoles added up to 18 percent of entertainment equipment purchases, while DVD players contributed an additional 11 percent of sales. VCRs continued their slow march to extinction, comprising less than 2 percent of sales.

DVD sales fell 14 percent in the last eight weeks of the year compared to the same period in 2007. Meanwhile, box office receipts climbed 11 percent to $1.655 billion during the holiday period with a number of holiday favorites hitting the big screen.

Read the complete review of holiday sales in the current edition of Consumer Insight.

British Hypermarkets Thrive, While Small Retailers Struggle

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:45:38 +0000

Sales in British supermarkets picked up during the last two weeks of November, as shoppers turned their backs on convenience stores and the high street retailers in favor of larger purchases at larger, value-oriented hypermarkets, Nielsen reported Tuesday.

Year-over-year growth at hypermarkets reached 6% during the period, while the smallest convenience outlets declined by almost 2% during the 12-week period.

In comparison, year-over-year growth in the British grocery sector stood at 3.2% during the 12 weeks ending 29 November, according to Nielsen. Grocery multiples showed stronger growth (+5.6%) during the period.

“In order to save money shoppers are making less visits to grocery stores,” Mike Watkins, senior manager retailer services, Nielsen, noted. “Nielsen has identified that virtually every major food retailer saw the number of visits per shopper fall in November versus a year ago and the big casualties are those retailers that people visit to do top up, small basket, and indulgence shops.”

According to Nielsen, there are exceptions to this trend. Retailers like Morrisons and Asda, and value retailers like Iceland drew plenty of shoppers — and even showed accelerating sales in the most recent 12-week period.

Rank (by share of grocery sales)	Retailers	Share of Grocery Sales: 12 Weeks Ending Dec. 1, 2007	Share of Grocery Sales: 12 Weeks Ending Nov. 29, 2008	% Change: Value Sales
1	Tesco	28.0%	28.0%	3.2%
2	Asda	15.1%	15.8%	7.7%
3	Sainsbury	14.2%	14.2%	3.6%
4	Morrisons	10.0%	10.6%	9.5%
5	Co-op	6.0%	5.9%	1.7%
6	Waitrose	3.4%	3.3%	-0.9%
7	M&S	3.9%	3.7%	-0.9%
8	Somerfield	3.5%	3.4%	-1.3%
9	Iceland	1.6%	1.8%	13.2%
Source: The Nielsen Company (September 2 – December 1, 2007 and August 31 – November 29, 2008).

View the press release.

Nielsen Wire » holiday sales trends

Holiday Sales 2008: The Definitive Report

British Hypermarkets Thrive, While Small Retailers Struggle