NIQ Retail Spend Barometer
United Kingdom
Brits spend £53.7bn on FMCG in Q3 2024 as sales decline slows in Tech & Durables market
- FMCG spending in Q3 2024 picked up to 3.7%, up from 1.2% in Q2, with the rate of decline in Tech & Durables (T&D) slows to -1.7% with consumers opting for more considered purchases.
- Personal care (10.7%) and homecare (8.7%) categories drive growth in FMCG, while high-end smartphones and computing (+1%) categories experience the first sales growth since lockdown.
UK shoppers spent a total of £53.7bn on FMCG in Q3 2024, this is a 3.7% uplift on the same quarter last year. New data reveals a silver lining for the Tech & Durables (T&D) market, with the rate of decline slowing to -1.7%, this is down from -2.8% recorded in Q3 2023. This is according to new insight from the NIQ’s Retail Spend Barometer, which has been drawn from GfK intelligence. The tool measures the turnover in sales of FMCG and non-food consumer products sold in retail stores across the UK.
FMCG spending slightly rebounds in Q3
NIQ data shows that value growth for the FMCG sector increased from +1.2% in Q2 to +3.7% in Q3, driven by an uptick in the personal care (10.7%), homecare (8.7%), fresh food (5.8%) and snacking (5.1%) categories. Beverages returned to growth to +2.1%, from a decline of -0.9% in Q2. Meanwhile, the biggest declines were experienced in tobacco (-7.9%), and paper products (-4.1%).
Signs of positivity for the Tech & Durables market
Despite another challenging year so far for the Tech & Durables market, there are signs of positivity with a slower decline (-1.7%) in Q3 2024, compared with an overall decline of -3.5% for the rolling year to date. This paints a less bleak picture from the -4.5% reported in the previous quarter. The biggest drag in the category was home appliances (-6.2%), which declined further from -6.1% in Q2.
“The first eight months of the year so far have been more optimistic compared to 2023, but shoppers remain cautious. We are seeing more considered purchasing, particularly within T&D as consumers opt to replace products when they must rather than upgrade a working one. This also plays to the desire for more sustainable living – beyond just energy efficiency – which is adding to the decision process. When it comes to upgrades, credit schemes offer immediate gratification and are used more often by those on higher incomes to enable upgrades for non-essential big-ticket items”.
Ben Morrison, Retail Services Director UK & IRE at NIQ