Covid-19 continues to cause ‘significant shifts’ in the food and drink industry

The IGD’s Eating In vs Dining Out 2021 report shows the eating out sector shrank by more than 50% and total UK food and drink market sales declined by 12% during 2020.

Nicola Knight, senior retail analyst at IGD, said: “Food and drink retail sales grew by 9.9% in 2020 and e-commerce was the clear winner in the sector as shoppers switched to online due to lockdown restrictions and stay-at-home guidance.

“But the overall food and drink market declined by 12%, predominantly driven by consumers eating more meals at home due to government closures within the eating out sector.”

The report also assesses the factors that will shape the UK food and drink market in 2021. In the short term, while eating out remains largely ‘closed’, the grocery retail market will need to deliver for food and drink shoppers that have few alternatives. This will manifest itself in high levels of demand for online.

Nicola Knight explains: “With normality hopefully beginning to return in the second half of the year, we’re expecting to see a return to some pre-Covid shopping habits, albeit with some more frugal habits emerging.”