The development of online sales is largely driven by home deliveries, which showed a sales increase of 15.1 percent. Click and collect also showed growth, increasing by 5.2 percent. Home deliveries accounted for 2.4 percent of total grocery sales, and click and collect accounted for 1.8 percent.
This sales development occurs in a context of falling food prices. Inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages in August was -6.6 percent, largely explained by the halved food VAT. The lower price level means that the industry's volume growth exceeds the turnover increase.
Karin Brynell, CEO of Svensk Dagligvaruhandel, comments on the underlying development for the industry.
Food prices are significantly lower than a year ago due to the halved VAT, which means that sales measured in volume are increasing more than turnover, she says.
The August result thus shows strong demand.