As Christmas creeps up on us, and the cost of living keeps rising, savvy shoppers are on the hunt for smarter ways to save precious pennies, and wonky veg is playing a part.
Grocery costs have risen by a whopping 16% last month, equating to about £650 more a year per family and for many that’s the straw that breaks Santa’s back this Christmas. However shoppers have been turning to wonky veg in a bid to save, which on average has seen an increase of sales at around 38% in September, which is about 4.8million shoppers according to Kantar.
Wonky veg is not only about saving money for shoppers, but in fact is also being pushed by many of the big retailers as a way to help local farmers and reduce food waste.
“We have seen grocers making a virtue of visually imperfect fruit and vegetables in recent years, allowing them to carry on offering the fresh products consumers want but at a cheaper price.”
Many of the UK’s major grocery retailers have launched their own lines including Tesco’s ‘Imperfectly Perfect’ initiative which has saved 50 million packs of fruit and vegetables since its launch, and Morrisons ‘Naturally Wonky’ range which began in 2015.
Many shoppers have been converted”, with sales of these ranges “up collectively by 38% this month.” - Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt
