COMMERCE: Sunday shopping is habit-forming

Nearly half of all adults have shopped in a supermarket on a Sunday at least once during the last three months, and a quarter of them now choose it as the day to do their main weekly food shop, a survey said yesterday. However, a significant minority of adults (34 per cent) have never shopped on a Sunday, the study found.

Two-thirds of those shopping at least once during the previous three months agreed that one reason they did so was to pick up things they had forgotten to buy during the week or had run out of, said the survey - carried out by NOP and the research consultancy The Human Factor as part of a feature in Checkout magazine.

Just over half said they shopped on a Sunday because they did not have time to do so during the week, rising to 68 per cent among those shopping every Sunday. Other reasons were that supermarkets were not as busy as at other times (53 per cent) and being able to shop with a partner or friend (51 per cent).