Tesco reports record fruit sales as consumers grapple with staying cool

Tesco has reported record fruit sales as consumers seek to stay hydrated amid high temperatures.

The UK’s biggest supermarket said it had seen overall demand for fruit soar by an “unprecedented” near 10% over the last three weeks, with berries, stone fruit, kiwis, melons, watermelons, pineapples, grapes and bananas all hitting record volume growth.

The grocer said it had ordered extra supplies ahead of days of forecasted 30C temperatures to cope with expected demand.

Tesco fruit category buying manager Simon Reeves said: “The extra demand for fruit that we’ve seen during the recent heatwaves in the last month has been unprecedented and is the highest we’ve ever seen within a three week period.

“The quality of the fruit from our growers including our berry and cherry growers here in the UK has been especially good this year on account of the extra sunshine and daylight hours which has also helped create such strong demand.

“We have been working with our fruit suppliers to make sure that our stores are well stocked as we expect demand to once again be very strong over the coming days.”

As the UK enters the third heatwave in four weeks, Tesco said it was also expecting to sell 750,000 packs of burgers, nearly eight million packs of ice cream and lollies and more than 100,000 bottles of Pimm’s.

Toolstation said it had seen sales of its cooling fans rise by 178% as households scramble to cope with high overnight temperatures.

Sales of portable air conditioners had also soared.

Lakeland said it had struggled to keep fans on its shelves, with sales up by 80% in June compared with a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Waitrose said sales of Wimbledon-related foods were up 300% in the last week, with strawberries and cream products seeing a 450% surge.

In the past week, sales of champagne have leapt by a “staggering” 231%, the upmarket grocer reported, while sales of British strawberries and canned Pimm’s were up 140% and 58% respectively.

Will Torrent, senior innovation chef at Waitrose, said: “Wimbledon is certainly serving up a win for sales, with major cultural and sporting moments like this really influencing customers.

“We’re seeing this play out with a huge demand for tennis staples including strawberries, clotted cream, and Pimm’s.

“For many, it’s about more than just a tasty treat; it’s about connecting to a sport and becoming part of a cultural phenomenon that extends far beyond the tennis courts.”