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UK grocery price inflation reached its highest level in nearly 15 years, according to figures from data analytics firm Kantar.
Grocery price inflation reached just under 12% over the past four weeks ending August 7, with the average household's annual grocery bill now set to soar by £533, or around £10.25 a week - if consumers buy the same products as they did last year.
‘As predicted, we've now hit a new peak in grocery price inflation, with products like butter, milk and poultry in particular seeing some of the biggest jumps,’ said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail & consumer insight at Kantar.
In the 12-week period ending August 7, grocery inflation stood at 9.6%. Prices were rising the fastest in goods such as dog food, butter and milk.
In an effort to manage rising prices, people are increasingly turning to own-label value products with sales increasing by 20%.
Own-label ranges now hold 52% of the market compared to branded products, the biggest share ever recorded by Kantar.
‘People are shopping around between the retailers to find the best value products, but back in 2008 there was much more of a reliance on promotions. It's harder to hunt out these deals in 2022 the number of products sold on promotion is at 24.7% for the four weeks to 7 August 2022, while 14 years ago it was at 30%. Instead, supermarkets are currently pointing shoppers towards their everyday low prices, value-ranges and price matches instead,’ continued McKevitt.
Supermarket sales in the 12 weeks to August 7 rose by 2.2% year-on-year to £30.17 billion. Kantar said this was the fastest growth the industry has seen since April 2021 as it continues its post-pandemic recovery.
Annual footfall also continued to rise, while the online shopping market share dipped below 12% for the first time since the early days of the pandemic.
Lidl remains the fastest growing grocer. Its sales were up 18% over the last 12 weeks at £1.79 billion, thanks to a boost from its dairy goods and bakery lines.
Low-budget peer Aldi also had a strong performance, with its market share increasing by 0.9 percentage points to 9.1% and its sales up 14% to £2.41 billion.
Grocer Asda returned to growth in the period, with sales rising by 0.2% to £4.20 billion to take its market share to 14%.
Though Tesco PLC remained the largest supermarket with a 26.9% share of the grocery UK market and sales of £8.12 billion, up 1.0% year-on-year. Tesco's market share dipped from 27.2% a year earlier, however.
J Sainsbury PLC sales slipped 0.1% annually to £4.48 billion. Its market share weakened to 14.8% from 15.2%.
Ocado PLC's market share was unchanged at 1.8%, though sales rose 6.2% year-on-year to £551 million.
Kantar data is based on over 75,000 identical products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by British shoppers.
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