More misery is on the way for UK shoppers as new figures reveal our annual grocery bill could jump by £380 this year as food price inflation hits a fresh 13-year high. The figures from Kantar show that grocery price inflation went up to 8.3 per cent over the four weeks to June 12 – up from 7 per cent in May - the highest level reached since April 2009.
The rocketing increases in food prices will mean the average annual shopping bill is set to rise by £380 to £4,960 in 2022 – that's £100 more than predictions in April alone, Kantar said. And in an attempt to mitigate the inflating prices, the figures suggest that shoppers have already begun swapping branded items for cheaper, own-brand alternatives.
Sales of branded products fell by 1 per cent in the 12 weeks to June 12 and own-label sales rose by 2.9 per cent. Value own-label lines saw the biggest rise in popularity up to 12 per cent. Head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, Fraser McKevitt, said sales of own-label lines have been “boosted by Aldi and Lidl’s strong performances, both of whom have extensive own-label repertoires”.
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He continued: “We can also see consumers turning to value ranges, such as Asda Smart Price, Co-op Honest Value and Sainsbury’s Imperfectly Tasty, to save money.”
But despite rising food bills, Britons are still prepared to put a little aside for a good party, as the numbers indicated we all splashed out on the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend and supermarket sales falls paring back to 1.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to June 12 – the best performance since October last year.
Sales in the last four weeks grew by 0.4 per cent year on year, it found, with sales during the week of the Platinum Jubilee £87 million higher than on average in 2022. Mr McKevitt said: “The sector hasn’t been in growth since April 2021 as it measures up against the record sales seen during the pandemic."
He continued: “However, these latest numbers show the market is to an extent returning to pre-Covid norms as we begin comparisons with post-lockdown times. The inflation number makes for difficult reading and shoppers will be watching budgets closely as the cost-of-living crisis takes its toll.”
The new figures from Kantar showed that, over the Jubilee week, alcohol sales went up by a third and purchases of ice cream soared by 35 per cent compared with the average in 2022. The latest report also revealed that Tesco was the only one of the Big Four chains to increase its market share over the quarter, to 27.3 per cent from 27.1 per cent a year ago. Sainsbury’s saw its share slip to 14.9 per cent from 15.2 per cent, Asda to 13.7 per cent from 14.1 per cent and Morrisons to 9.6 per cent from 10.1 per cent.
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