Grocery price inflation continued its fall to 1.6%, down from June’s 2.1% and its lowest figure since September 2021, according to analysts Kantar
Grocery spending was dominated by falling inflation, our love of football and sales of fake tan this month as rising consumer confidence and excitement about the Euros was offset by the incessantly rainy summer, accoding to new figures,
Grocery price inflation continued its fall to 1.6%, making it the lowest since September 2021 says Market Research firm Kantar. This decline coincided with a swift increase in monthly footfall this year, as UK shoppers undertook 2% more trips to supermarkets in comparison to the same time last year.
As financial burdens on households lessened, sales of branded goods saw growth of 3.6%, compared to own-brand items which stood at 2.7%. England’s journey through the Euros witnessed football fans pushing up beer sales by an average of 13% on days when the team played, compared to the same day in the preceding week.
However, with many matches lining up with “school nights”, Britons exercised restraint, which resulted in a rise in spending on non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beers by 38% on matchdays. On another front, due to the disappointingly wet summer, cold and flu remedies sales skyrocketed by a giant 35%. Sun cream fell back by 10%.
In contrast, fake tan sales took the spotlight with an increase of 16% in comparison to last year, which had the title of the hottest June on record. Anticipating the King’s speech this Wednesday, Fraser McKevitt, Head of Retail And Consumer Insight at Kantar, said: “The retail landscape looks very different from 2010 when the last Labour government was in power and so do our shopping trolleys.”
“As diets have evolved, sales of popcorn, peanut butter and chilled vegetarian products, such as sausages and grills, have more than trebled. We’re also more likely to have premium ground and bean coffee in our cups now.”
Ocado was the fastest-growing grocer for the fifth month in a row, with sales up by 10.7% over the 12 weeks to July 7. Waitrose gained market share for the first time since January 2022, achieving a 0.1 percentage point rise to 4.5% as spending at the upmarket grocer increased by 3.3%.
Britain’s largest grocer Tesco achieved its biggest share gain since November 2021, taking 27.7% of the market a 0.7 percentage point increase compared with last year.