Sainsbury’s and Nectar announce the tastiest fads for 2022 in “What the Nation Ate.”
The food and drink items that were most popular last year, according to Sainsbury’s and Nectar, included a rise in alcohol-free beverages and a billion bananas.
National celebrations fueled by food and drink dominated 2022, with events like the Platinum Jubilee weekend and England’s Women’s Football Team’s Euro win among them.
The report is released at the same time as Nectar’s Year in Review, which will be back on the Nectar app tomorrow and highlight users’ top purchases of 2022.
As Nectar’s Year in Review returns for digital consumers on the Nectar app tomorrow, Sainsbury’s and Nectar have today revealed the culinary fads that swept the nation in 2022. Beginning in 2022, customers may anticipate receiving a personalized breakdown of their buying preferences, along with a list of their top three most frequent purchases. The business has identified customer shopping trends from the previous year using data from 17.6 million Nectar customers.
As 2022 got underway, more people participated in dry January, and purchases of alcohol-free goods increased by 20% year over year. Veganuary was also well-liked, with purchases of vegan goods increasing by over 9% from 2021 to 2022.
With over 900,000 lemons and nearly 2 million packs of eggs bought in the week preceding Shrove Tuesday, it goes without saying that Brits had an egg-cellent Pancake Day in March. Customers didn’t just prioritize eggs on Pancake Day; throughout the weeks preceding Easter Sunday, a staggering 10.7 million chocolate eggs and 3.5 million hot cross buns were bought.
The country joined together in June to commemorate the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. Over the long weekend, scones were a must-have item on the menu at street parties where families, friends, and neighbors gathered. With around 95,000 consumers purchasing a package on the first day of the Jubilee Weekend alone, a victorious 1,167,000 scones were devoured!
The remainder of the summer provided many more occasions for celebration, with shoppers purchasing 341,000 pots of cream and 3.5 million pieces of strawberries at Wimbledon. Customers purchased almost 900,000 bags of crisps and nuts, over 125,000 dips, and about 1.5 million bottles and cans of beer on the day of the final to celebrate the England women’s football team finally winning!
Nectar launched The Great Fruit and Veggie Challenge, which will last for 7 weeks as the summer break begins. A staggering 88 million servings of fruit were purchased for the digital challenge, up 59% over the challenge in 2021. Customers continued to go bananas for bananas, purchasing more than 1 billion of the fruit—more than they did for apples and oranges combined!
By purchasing a pumpkin, approximately 800,000 people did so this year, an increase of 6% from the previous year. The first week of November saw hot chocolate stations become a trend on Instagram, which got people thinking about winter warmers. Over 190,000 pots of hot chocolate and more than 18,000 packages of marshmallows were purchased, showing that consumers were strongly behind this trend.
Families and friends gathered in December as the year came to a close to celebrate the Christmas season; it appears that there wasn’t a dry turkey in sight as customers purchased an astounding 3.5 million pots of gravy for the big day! Additionally, shoppers purchased more than 1 million packets of Yorkshire puddings to go with their Christmas Day meal.
“Nectar’s Year in Review is always a moment I look forward to, as not only is it great to discover my top purchases, it’s also fantastic to see the goods our customers adore and the celebrations and trends they enjoy,” said Alex Naisby, Director of Loyalty & CRM at Sainsbury’s.
As is customary, food and drink played an important role in the nation’s celebration of various milestones last year. We’re happy to have encouraged our clients to enjoy and celebrate while simultaneously helping them choose healthier options. I’m eager to observe how changing consumer purchasing patterns pan out in 2023!
Tomorrow, digital Nectar customers** will have access to their Year in Review figures via the Nectar app, which will indicate if they are the #1 top buyer for a product in their preferred retailer as well as their top three most frequently bought items.
Additional information will be displayed, such as the top categories of purchases, the amount of fruit and vegetables purchased, the total number of transactions, and the number of Nectar points accrued. Additionally, based on their location, new Nectar customers can access Year in Review, which includes regional data.
Remember to swipe or scan your Nectar card when you purchase at Sainsbury’s and download the Nectar app to take part in Nectar’s upcoming Year in Review.
* As of December 2022, based on the Nectar database. **
You must have data showing the number of stores visited, the contents of your basket, and the top three products in order to be presented with a personalized Year in Review.
