Grocery price inflation drops two months in a row
GROCERY price inflation has dropped for the second month running, showing promising signs.
Kantar data for the 12 weeks to 25 December found that grocery price inflation dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 14.4%.
Whilst still a high figure with a marginal drop, Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “This is the second month in a row that grocery price inflation has fallen, raising hope that the worst has now passed. However, it’s still a painfully high figure at the current rate, impacting how and what we buy at the shops.”
These higher costs played their part in fuelling increased value sales, particularly over the Christmas period, which reached record-breaking levels of £12.8 billion and breached the £12bn mark for the first time.
McKevitt said: “Value sales are up significantly but grocery price inflation is the real driving factor behind this rather than increased purchasing.”
Nielsen data found a similar story over the festive period as the firm reported a 10.9% increase on total till value for the four weeks up to 31 December.
Mike Watkins, UK head of retailers and business insight at NielsenIQ, said: “Shoppers were still willing to buy extra Christmas indugences but the performance of the industry was shaped by the cost-of-living crisis and the need to save on grocery shopping.”
