Central England Co-op sees ‘unusual mix of products’ lead rise in heatwave sales

Some of the most standout or unusual findings included a spike in the sales of banana flavoured milk, Greek natural yoghurt, Galia melons and  trifle.

The retailer revealed that since last Friday (7 August) soft drinks rose by 1%, while squash sales leapt by 43% compared to the same weekend last year, mixers were also on the up with tonic water rising by 16%, but the biggest growth came in ginger ale up 46%. Beers, wines and spirits saw large growth with typical summer drinks such as Pimms (+217%) and Aperol (+170%) nearly tripling in sales.

More unusual rises saw Co-op Banana Flavoured Milk jump by 29%, salted peanuts 13%, Co-op Chocolate Trifle 42% and Co-op Galia Melon by 329%.

In addition, a rise in people making smoothies saw fruit sales jump by 3.4%, including two times as many strawberry punnets being snapped up, and salads were the biggest growing category overall compared to last year with sales of Co-op Cocktail On The Vine Tomatoes jumping by 177%.

The retailer reported that consumers were also looking for something to go with their salads and stocked up on artisan breads, such as sourdough roasted tomato and basil, with sales up by 412%.

Marta Foley, customer analytics manager, said: “These findings show how customers react during a heatwave by not only going for the things they love but also items that are a little out of the ordinary.

“Salad, fruit, drink, beers, wines and spirits would all normally form part of a shopping basket at this time of year, but we were surprised to see people picking up everything from trifles to banana flavoured milk.”