Following today’s news (April 30 2020) that Sainsbury’s will maintain queues and restrictions in its stores until September;

Hakan Demirci, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view on what this means for impulse buy brands:

“Limiting the number of consumers allowed in a store effectively means consumers on average are going back to buying groceries once a week, planning and budgeting their shopping trips. In fact, 48% of UK consumers admitted to be on a tight budget during their weekly shop*. This will adversely affect manufacturers who are less-essential, especially in the impulse purchase section.

“Consumers will generally buy the same products in bulk and shun products that would otherwise be purchased impulsively. Confectionery and other snacking categories are expected to be most impacted, as a large portion of their impulsive revenue will be lost.

“This will be further exacerbated as retailers continue to announce further delays to the end of quarantine measures in-store, suggesting the long-term impact to impulsive purchases will be significant. Possible ways to circumvent such an outcome rests on the ability of manufacturers to successfully position their impulse buy products for online and delivery platforms – perhaps suggesting a similar impulsive purchase section online as there is in-store.

“Ultimately, less-essential and impulse purchase manufacturers must act quickly and seek to drive much of their revenue online, as the predicted in-store impact on these manufacturers over the course of the year will be severe.”

*GlobalData Coronavirus (Covid-19) Tracker Survey – Week 5 – UK – somewhat/strongly agree responses combined. Data is adjusted weekly following COVID-19 developments, therefore subject to change.