Grocery price inflation has risen for the first time in 17 months, analysts revealed today after football fans spent £10million on beer on the day of the Euro 2024 final.
Experts at Kantar said UK supermarket prices were 1.8 per cent higher than a year ago over the month to August 4, nudging up slightly from 1.6 per cent in July.
This was the first increase after a straight run of falling rates since a peak of 17.5 per cent in March 2023. The figure for July was its lowest point since September 2021.
Consumers are now witnessing a mixed cost picture on supermarket shelves, with prices increasing across 182 product categories while the cost of 89 others fell.
Prices are rising fastest for vitamin and mineral supplements, chocolate and fruit juices; but falling the most for toilet paper, bottled cola and dog food. Kitchen towels and baked beans are 7 per cent and 5 per cent cheaper respectively than last year.
Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said: ‘Having reached its lowest rate in almost three years in July, August saw inflation nudge up again slightly.
‘While this is noticeable following 17 straight months of falling rates, it actually marks a return to the average levels seen in the five years before the start of the cost-of-living crisis.
‘With this kind of pricing spread, shoppers will find that the type of product they’re putting in their baskets will really dictate how much they pay.’
Shoppers are continuing to take advantage of promotions offered by grocers to help keep prices down.
Spending on deals rose by 15 per cent while sales of products at their usual price saw no increase.
Despite the pressures, consumers sent sales of wine up by 35 per cent, nuts by 60 per cent and crisps by 10 per cent on the Friday of the Olympics opening ceremony, compared with the week before.
Tesco’s market share is at 27.6 per cent and the chain remains the biggest UK grocer by far
Football fans also spent £10million on beer on the day of the Euro 2024 final, the most spent on a Sunday in more than three years.
Sales of ice cream and burgers rose by 23 per cent and 32 per cent respectively compared with last year as the weather improved in July and August, while sales of chilled prepared salad rose by 22 per cent.
However sales of cough lozenges rose by 28 per cent as people battled Covid-19 and summer colds.
The data also showed that overall take-home grocery sales rose 3.8 per cent in value terms over the four-week period year-on-year.
Sainsbury’s recorded its largest year-on-year market share gain since July 1997, rising by 0.5 percentage points over the quarter compared with the same period last year. It was again the fastest growing of the traditional supermarkets, with sales increasing by 5.2 per cent.
| Supermarket | 12 weeks to 6 Aug 2023 (£m) | Share (%) | 12 weeks to 4 Aug 2024 (£m) | Share | Change YoY (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Grocers | 32,957 | 100.0% | 33,720 | 100.0% | 2.3% |
| Total Multiples | 32,455 | 98.5% | 33,232 | 98.6% | 2.4% |
| Tesco | 8,888 | 27.0% | 9,323 | 27.6% | 4.9% |
| Sainsbury’s | 4,894 | 14.8% | 5,148 | 15.3% | 5.2% |
| Asda | 4,526 | 13.7% | 4,255 | 12.6% | -6.0% |
| Aldi | 3,346 | 10.2% | 3,362 | 10.0% | 0.5% |
| Morrisons | 2,870 | 8.7% | 2,909 | 8.6% | 1.4% |
| Lidl | 2,527 | 7.7% | 2,725 | 8.1% | 7.8% |
| Co-op | 2,020 | 6.1% | 1,983 | 5.9% | -1.8% |
| Waitrose | 1,441 | 4.4% | 1,505 | 4.5% | 4.5% |
| Iceland | 752 | 2.3% | 783 | 2.3% | 4.1% |
| Ocado | 559 | 1.7% | 622 | 1.8% | 11.3% |
| Other Multiples | 633 | 1.9% | 617 | 1.8% | -2.6% |
| Symbols & Independents | 503 | 1.5% | 487 | 1.4% | -3.1% |
Britain’s largest grocer Tesco maintained its streak of winning market share every month since August 2023, rising to 27.6 per cent while upping sales by 4.9 per cent.
Sales rose by 11.3 per cent at online-only retailer Ocado, continuing its six-month run as the fastest growing grocer.
German discounters Lidl and Aldi both saw sales growth.
Lidl had a 7.8 per cent boost in sales as it won an extra 0.4 percentage points of the market, taking its share to 8.1 per cent; while Aldi’s market share is now 10 per cent after a 0.5 per cent sales rise.
But Asda saw sales fall 6 per cent as it lost 1.1 percentage points of market share year-on-year.
It comes after the chain last week reported a 5.3 per cent fall in second quarter sales.
Kantar’s data is the most up-to-date snapshot of UK consumer behaviour published since Labour won the General Election on July 4.
Football fans also spent £10million on beer on the day of the Euro 2024 final, the most spent on a Sunday in more than three years. Pictured: A Sainsbury’s store in Wimbledon last month
The British Retail Consortium warned last month that renewed inflationary pressures could be on the way as the effect of last year’s fall in commodity prices fades.
The industry body also claimed that climate change had damaged harvests following unusually wet weather in England and extreme heat elsewhere.
Official data released last month by the Office for National Statistics showed overall UK inflation held at 2 per cent in June. Data for July will be published tomorrow.