Sales in the Sydney on-premise have returned to pre-lockdown levels according to new data from Fonto, but the easing of restrictions has impacted the off-premise.

Fonto has just released the second of four weekly updates where it is analysing on-premise and off-premise purchasing in metro Sydney. The first week’s data showed on-premise activity in metro Sydney during “freedom week” was 80% of pre-lockdown levels, while the off-premise was down just 2% on the previous week.

However, off-premise activity was impacted by fewer people visiting bottle shops and spending less.

Jon O’Loughlin, Head of Client Development at consumer data business Fonto, said: “This week, we have seen on-premise reach the same level as pre-lockdown, so the pace of recovery has been tremendous. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues or levels off. We anticipate the return to school may slow the trend down, as parents get back into their pre-lockdown weeknight routines.

“By contrast, off-premise has dropped, so we will be keeping a close eye on that over the coming weeks.

“Next week we will be launching the same analysis for Melbourne. As Victoria came out of lockdown on Friday and we need a full week’s transactions for the analysis. The release of the analysis will be on Monday next week and each of the following three Mondays.”

Fonto is offering free access to its weekly transactional data, covering both on-premise and off-premise categories, for the next four weeks to help the drinks industry get immediate insights around on- and off-premise activity during the NSW reopening.

“We know people will have lots of questions about on-premise activity – who is venturing out, where are they spending, how much are they spending etc – and whether it will have an impact on off-premise purchasing,” O’Loughlin said.

Fonto will provide weekly transactional data updates from October 21 to November 10 and is also offering discounted survey packages between now and the end of November.

Contact Jon O’Loughlin at jon.oloughlin@fonto.com.au