Grocery inflation increased slightly during the four-week period leading up to 4 August, but experts at Kantar International say it is not significant enough to spark concern.
Though the jump from 1.6% to 1.8% marks the first time in nearly 18 months that grocery inflation has risen, the current rate is close to levels seen well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, consumers are still shopping for bargains. Purchases on sale items leaped a whopping 15%. They are not only leaning in to those deals but also continuing to buy items whose prices remain stable. Finding deals is becoming more challenging: during the period, prices jumped in 182 product categories, while they were lower in 89 others, according to Kantar data.
“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,” Kantar noted in a release. “They’re continuing to take advantage of the wide range of promotions being offered by the grocers to help keep the price of shopping down.”
Take-home sales increased by 3.8% in July, helped by summer purchases around sporting events, including the Olympics. One of the most notable for the produce industry was the 22% jump in chilled prepared salad sales.
As for individual retailers, Tesco maintained its stronghold on the UK market, seeing its share rise 0.6% as sales jumped 4.9%. Its next closest competitor, Sainsbury’s has gained 0.5% over the past three months – its best performance since 1997 – and saw its sales rise 5.2%.
Deep discounters Lidl and Aldi continue to show their strength, with Lidl gaining 0.4% on market share and Aldi remaining level at 10%.
Ocado also remains very popular with 1.8% of the market and growing, and saw an impressive 11.3% rise in sales.
