UK supermarkets gain ground in toiletries sales

While almost two-thirds of consumers say that supermarkets are their first choice retailers of toiletries and household goods, nearly 40 per cent of them still prefer to purchase cosmetics from specialist stores and pharmacies.

Shoppers are increasingly making supermarkets their destination for non-food as well as groceries, according to retail analysts IGD.

New research shows that more than a tenth of shoppers go to supermarkets specifically to purchase their non-food goods. The research from IGD found that shoppers buy non-food categories in different outlets according to what they are buying.

Almost two-thirds of consumers buy toiletries from a supermarket, as opposed to only a fifth of purchases made in high street chemists such as Boots, and 6 per cent in discount chains.

Cosmetics are treated as luxury items, however, with nearly 40 per cent of consumers preferring to buy cosmetics products in a specialist store such as a pharmacy, compared to 23 per cent in supermarkets.