Grocery price inflation has crept back up to 1.8% this month, the first increase since March 2023. But with the summer of sport (and sun), shoppers budgeted for snacks and drinks.
The figure is up from the 1.6% recorded last month – the lowest reading for grocery price inflation since September 2021, according to analytics firm Kantar.
This rise marks the first increase in 17 straight months of falling rates (since March 2023), but it also takes grocery price inflation back to the average levels seen in the five years before the start of the cost-of-living crisis.
However, “it’s a mixed picture on supermarket shelves”, as prices are rising across 182 product categories, but falling in 89 others.
Kantar revealed that kitchen towels and baked beans are 7% and 5% cheaper respectively than they were last year.
As such, it really depends on what shoppers place in their trolleys, which will dictate the price at the checkout. But shoppers are continuing to take advantage of promotions being offered by grocers to help keep costs down, with spending on deals rising 15%.
Burgers, beers and a big ‘bless you’
But with the summer of sport, fans were keen to get into the party spirit, lifting take-home sales at grocers by 3.8% in the four weeks to 4 August 2024.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “While people continue to make smart choices to manage their budgets, we should never underestimate Britons’ love of big occasions.”
He revealed many marked the start of the Olympics over drinks and snacks – sales of wine were up 35%, while nuts increased 60% and crisps rose by 10% on the Friday of the opening ceremony in Paris, compared with the previous week.
England fans also roared on the Three Lions as the men’s UEFA European Football Championship reached its closing stages, with £10m spent on beer on the day of the final, the most spent on a Sunday in more than three years.
Elsewhere, the BBQ weather saw burger sales soar 32% compared with the same time last year, while chilled prepared salad sales rose 22%.
The amount spent on ice cream was up 23%, but 28% more was spent on cough lozenges as people battled with Covid-19 and other summer colds.
Taste the difference at Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s market share has risen by 0.5 percentage points over the 12 weeks to 4 August, compared to the same period last year. According to Kantar, this is its largest year-on-year share gain since July 1997. It was again the fastest growing of the traditional supermarkets, with sales increasing by 5.2%.
Britain’s largest grocer Tesco saw its hold of the market climb by 0.6 percentage points to 27.6%, while sales jumped 4.9%. Asda now takes a 12.6% share, while Morrisons’ stake stands at 8.6%.
German discounters Lidl and Aldi both saw sales growth. Buoyed by a 7.8% boost in sales, Lidl won an extra 0.4 percentage points of the market, taking its share to 8.1%. Aldi’s market share is now at 10%.
Online-only retailer Ocado saw sales rise by 11.3%, continuing its six-month run as the fastest growing grocer. Its share stands at 1.8%.
Waitrose’s share increased by 0.1 percentage point to 4.5%, and with sales also up by 4.5%, it logged its strongest growth since November 2023. Frozen food specialist Iceland now holds a 2.3% share, with shoppers spending 4.1% more at its tills, while Co-op takes 5.9% of the market.
