Grocery sales to reach £200bn by 2020

UK:  The UK grocery market will increase in value by 13% to £200.6bn in 2020, according to retail analysts IGD.

The new five-year grocery market forecasts that convenience, discount and online sales will be the fastest growing channels.

IGD sees online sales, increasing by 92.9% to £17.2bn as the Internet becomes more widely used and relied upon by UK shoppers. The discount channel, it says, will grow sales by £10.5bn – more than any other channel – driven by expansion and stronger performance at both the food and high street discounters.

After years of rapid advances, sales growth in convenience will be more measured over the next five years, with IGD expecting sales growth of 17% between 2015 and 2020, below the 27.4% achieved between 2010 and 2015.

Predictions are that sales through hypermarkets and superstores will decline 2.9% to £69.6bn over the next five years, but will moderate through the period as retailers experiment with new formats to make large stores more convenient and relevant to shoppers.