Morrisons is predicting huge demand for festive staples as British families look to celebrate the holiday season with a return to traditional classics, despite a year of budgetary belt-tightening.
With only 34 shopping days left until Christmas, the food retailer is working around the clock to ensure the availability of Christmas favourites nationwide and is closely monitoring sales to keep the shelves stocked in the run-up to December 25th.
Despite the unseasonably warm weather, sales of core Christmas products in Morrisons are up 17% year on year. One Christmas staple in high demand surprisingly early is cranberry sauce – with November sales up 34% versus 2010 and one million jars predicted to be sold before the big day. Nearly half a million turkeys are also set to fly off the shelves, with Morrisons expecting canny shoppers looking for bargains to stock-up earlier than usual, creating a series of purchasing peaks rather than the traditional sales ‘Everest’ before Christmas Eve.
With almost a third of British families anticipating a financially challenging Christmas*, making the festive shop go further, for less, is more important than ever. Recently confirmed as the UK retailer offering the Best Value Christmas by the Good Housekeeping Institute**, Morrisons Group Commercial Director Richard Hodgson is acutely aware of the current pressure on the British purse, conflicting with the desire of every household to have a compromise free Christmas.
“We all want to enjoy a little indulgence at Christmas, but that can be tough when you’re worrying about how you’re going to pay for it” says Hodgson. “One in three families are planning to spend less this year***, but that doesn’t mean having to make sacrifices. When our customers sit down to eat on December 25th they can be safe in the knowledge that every festive essential - from the potatoes to the pudding- will taste great, without breaking the bank.”
Published 21/11/2011
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Christmas Stocking-Up: festive predictions in numbers
Christmas Staple
More than 460,000 turkeys, enough for over 3.5 million Christmas dinners.
Stuffing
Stuffing doesn’t have to be plain sage and onion.
Cranberry Sauce
1.1 million jars of cranberry sauce, when stacked end to end that’s as
tall as over 5,000 Trafalgar Square Christmas trees laid end to end.
Sprouts
1.2 million kilos of sprouts, enough to feed Santa’s nine reindeer for 67 years.
Potatoes
Over 6,500 tonnes of potatoes in the week before Christmas, enough to fuel over 37 million squaddies.
Mince Pies
Approximately 53,141,904 mince pies – or one for 85% of the entire
Christmas Cakes
Satsumas
Approximately 18,257,452 satsumas, or one for every house in the
Brandy Butter
Around 79,000 jars of brandy butter, which is one a month for a year for each reindeer herder in
Christmas Pudding
Approximately 2 million Christmas Puddings, that’s a serving for every person in Greater London
Approximately 994,800 bottles, enough to raise your glass almost six million times.
Party Food
Brits know how to party – and in spite of tougher times the nation seems determined to celebrate with a bang. This year,