Coronavirus: UK supermarkets see busiest recorded month amid outbreak
March 31, 2020, 3:46 pm

Coronavirus: UK supermarkets see busiest recorded month amid outbreak

People wearing protective face masks queue outside Sainsbury's supermarket in London. (File photo Reuters)

Britain’s supermarkets experienced their busiest month on record in March as the coronavirus outbreak saw shoppers empty shelves, industry data showed on Tuesday. Coronavirus: UK supermarkets

Total grocery sales, including in-stores and online, rocketed by a record 20.6 percent to a new high of £10.8 billion ($13.4 billion, 12.1 billion euros) in the four weeks to March 22 compared with a year earlier, said retail research firm Kantar.

Alcohol sales jumped 22 percent, while cupboard ingredients and frozen foods combined surged 28 percent, Kantar said in a statement.

The figures do not include the impact of the nationwide lockdown - that had been widely expected and the UK government implemented it on March 23 in a bid to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Retailers and their staff have been on the front line as households prepare for an extended stay at home,” said Fraser McKevitt, Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight.

British food stores have been inundated with shoppers, with people panic buying toilet paper and long-life items such as pasta and canned goods.

Online shopping, a popular choice in Britain, has meanwhile been disrupted for weeks, with long waiting times for scheduled deliveries and some supermarkets’ websites crashing owing to the high demand. Coronavirus: UK supermarkets

“Government advice may have been to get groceries delivered if possible but limited delivery slots meant that only 14.6 percent of households received an online delivery in the past four weeks, up from 13.8 percent in March 2019 but probably well below actual demand,” McKevitt noted. levant

source: AFP levant

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”