Global Shopping Insights Report: United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Battle of the drinks: juice or water?

In the UK, juice is chosen slightly more often, with 35% more additions to shopping lists compared to water.

Water is more frequently planned for purchase by Americans, Brazilians, and Germans, while juice is preferred by the French and Norwegians.

Which country likes Nutella the most?

In the sweet and savory snacks category, Nutella accounted for 1.01% of additions to shopping lists in the UK. This result is better than in Norway and Canada (where Nutella's share was below 1%) but significantly lower than in Germany and France, where Nutella made up more than 6% of shopping list additions.

"Shopping" or Aldi? Most common shopping list names

Among the analyzed phrases in shopping list titles in the UK, the most common were “new list” (10.01%) and “shopping” (8.82%). Among retailers, Aldi was the most frequently mentioned (2.03%), followed by Tesco (1.97%) and Asda (1.49%).

In total, retailer names appeared in 5.49% of shopping list titles, placing the UK in the middle of the rankings. Spain is the clear leader with 15.38% of lists including retailer names, while Brazil had the lowest share at 0.46%. The UK slightly trails Canada (6.84%) and narrowly surpasses Sweden (5.46%).

Who’s behind the shopping list?

In the UK, 9.91% of active shopping lists from June 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024, were shared with at least one person.

This is one of the lowest rates among the analyzed countries and below the global average. Americans used the list-sharing feature the least, while Danes lead in this regard.

The list-sharing rate may indicate the extent to which citizens of a given country share the responsibility of household shopping.

Hot categories

In the UK, most products added to shopping lists came from the fruits and vegetables category, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all additions. This result is slightly higher than the global average (18.57%) and the fourth-highest in the analysis. Higher percentages were recorded only in Poland (22.86%), Canada (20.21%), and Denmark (19.76%).

The lowest percentage of fruits and vegetables on shopping lists among the analyzed countries was in Brazil (13.02%). This lower share could be influenced by the shopping habits in that country, such as buying from markets or making impulsive decisions in stores.

Shopper favorites

Milk, bread, eggs, and cheese are the most frequently added items to shopping lists in the UK. Similar to other countries, bananas are the most popular fruit. Potatoes, as in Poland and Germany, also rank high on the list of most-added items—fourth place in Poland and seventh in Germany.

Who shops like a pro?

In the UK, 50.75% of items on shopping lists were marked as purchased after being added, which is 5 percentage points below the global average and the third-lowest result among the analyzed countries.

The lowest rates were recorded in the United States (47.3%) and Brazil (48.51%), while the highest rates were observed in Scandinavian countries and Poland.

Factors such as store availability and product offerings may influence the rate of items marked as purchased.

Sweet tooth or snack attack?

The English choose chips significantly more often than chocolate, with a 55% preference for chips.

A similar trend is observed in the United States, Sweden, and Germany, where chips are also frequently added to shopping lists. In contrast, chocolate is more popular in Italy, Spain, and France.

The month that stood out

In May 2024, 787,191 products were added to shopping lists in the UK, marking a 5% increase compared to April and 0.93% more than in December, the second-highest month for added products. The lowest number of products was added in June 2023, with 533,548, representing a 47.54% decrease compared to May 2024.

English, please!

67% of shopping lists created in the UK between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024, were in English, the second-lowest result in the analysis. The lowest share of the primary language was recorded in the United States, where, despite around 78.3% of residents speaking only English at home (according to American Community Survey data from 2018-2022), only 46.74% of shopping lists in the Listonic app were in English.

The Danes complete their shopping lists the fastest (58 hours), while Brazilians are the slowest (172 hours).

Various factors, such as shopping frequency and the availability of groceries, may influence these results.

Shopping speed champions

The English rank sixth in the list of nations that most quickly move from adding a product to their shopping list to marking it as purchased, with an average time of 119 hours, or nearly 5 days.