Last week’s heatwave prompted a surge in sales across BBQ foods, rosé and ice cream as the mercury neared 30°C in many parts of the UK. However, store footfall saw a sharp decline on Saturday, the hottest day of the year so far, as consumers tried to keep cool.

Summer food sales hot up

Aldi reported a record number of ice creams were sold on Friday 20 June, with sales jumping by more than +35%. It expected sales of ice creams to continue to increase, rising as much as +70%, over the weekend as the heatwave continued, with a potential 12million ice creams being sold.

Plant-based food company, THIS, also reported a summer impact on sales, with its burger and sausage ranges seeing a +21% uplift in the past two weeks in Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Meanwhile, Waitrose said its rosé sales surge +150% when temperatures hit just 20°C – its also said that sales of English rosé are up +47% year to date.

Overall footfall falters, but coastal towns see uptick in store visits

While the heatwave helped drive up some category sales, it failed to boost UK retail footfall as consumers opted to stay cool, rather than hitting the shops.

While the week itself – from Monday to Friday – showed a positive footfall performance compared to the week before, it was bookended by steep declines which wiped out any gains made throughout the week, according to MRI Software.

It said retail parks and shopping centres saw the sharpest Saturday declines, dropping -11% and -11.4% week-on-week respectively, thanks to the heatwave in the south and severe storms in the norther part of the UK.

While high streets saw a modest +1.2% uplift, MRI’s data showed seaside towns thrived, with footfall surging +11.4% as day-trippers took advantage of the sunshine or looked to cool off at the coast.