Spending at convenience stores rises in final quarter of 2020

By Liz Wells in Industry News 11th January 2021

Average spend at local convenience stores continued to increase in the fourth quarter of 2020, rising 4% month-on-month and soaring 11% year-on-year to £8.47, new research reveals.

Data collected from PayPoint’s UK network of 27,500 local convenience retailers shows the non-food, paper and disposables category saw the sharpest growth on the third quarter, with a 22% increase in sales. The biggest seller in this category is a brand of toilet paper, followed by second-class stamps. Meanwhile, mobile phone cards saw 18% growth quarter-on-quarter.

PayPoint’s Convenience Basket Register, a quarterly glimpse of big sellers across six key product categories, was:

Hovis soft white medium (800g loaf)
Peters sausage roll (single)
Robert Wiseman Dairies semi skimmed milk
Peperami Original (22.5g)
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (95g)
Kinder Bueno white (39g)
Red Bull energy drink (250ml can)
Coca Cola (1.5l bottle)
Party ice cubes (bag)
Bobbys Ice Snappers (single).

Nick Wiles, chief executive of PayPoint said: “The data shows that while Christmas was different this year, seasonal merriment and a desire to celebrate with loved ones, albeit remotely, were still pillars of our end-of-year shopping habits. Similarly, PayPoint’s commitment to staying in regular contact to best support our retail partners remains as strong as ever.

“Amid the latest lockdown, we have deployed two-thirds of our sales team to engage directly with retailers to ensure that they are utilising the full capability of their PayPoint One EpoS systems.”