Out-of-home outlet visits down 29% YoY in March
The NPD Group believes deals, delivery and the increased use of technology will be part of the “new normal”.
Visits to out-of-home outlets declined by 29% in March compared to the same period last year, illustrating the early impact of the current lockdown.
Data from The NPD Group showed how this was mostly caused by a 21% decline in trip frequency. Two-thirds of buyers, the market research company said, made fewer trips than the previous month, with levels dropping off “suddenly” as the government guidance came in, soon followed by the lockdown at the back-end of the month.
Had the British lockdown started earlier, NPD said these figures would be “far worse.” Italy in March, notably, had visits declining by more than two-thirds year-on-year (YoY).
“In Britain, delivery and pre-ordering via apps were the only growth areas in March, indicating how off-premise visits were less severely impacted. Independents that stayed open, as chain restaurants took the decision to close entirely, will have benefited from any remaining consumer demand. From the end of March onwards, the eating out market reached a new baseline level of trade that represents only a small percentage of its normal size,” NPD insights director Dominic Allport said in a blog post.
Prior to the lockdown, British foodservice visits in January and February 2020 increased by +0.4% year over year according to NPD’s CREST panel, a slight improvement on the +0.3% YoY growth seen over the same time period in 2019.
“Anybody in British foodservice must accept that the ‘old normal’ will not be with us for some time, if ever again. The results of NPD’s recent COVID-19 sentiment study indicates UK consumers will continue to see restaurants as risky places for infection and that social distancing measures should be kept in place. But accepting the ‘new normal’ when the lockdown begins to ease can bring some measure of success. We believe the ‘new normal’ will involve three key components: deals; delivery; and the increased use of technology,” Allport explained.
