Kantar

Grocery price inflation hits 11.6% in past four weeks

The shocking figure comes as the UK’s headline inflation rate reaches 10.1%.

Grocery price inflation has jumped to 11.6% over the past four weeks, Kantar has found, marking the highest level since the analyst first started tracking the data this way in 2008.

Products like butter, milk and poultry, in particular, have seen some of the biggest jumps, meaning that the average annual shop is set to rise by a staggering £533, or £10.25 every week, if consumers buy the same products as they did last year.

As a result, own-label ranges are at record levels of popularity, with sales rising by 7.3% and holding 51.6% of the market compared with branded products, the biggest share Kantar has ever recorded.

The analyst said people are shopping around between retailers to find the best-value products. In comparison, during the 2008 recession, there was a much greater 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%,” Fraser McKevitt Head of Retail and Consumer Insight, Worldpanel Division, UK, said. “Instead, supermarkets are currently pointing shoppers towards their everyday low prices, value ranges and price matches instead.”

What’s more, own-label value products increased by 19.7% this month.

Overall, supermarket sales rose by 2.2% in the 12 weeks to 7 August, the fastest growth the industry has seen since April 2021.

Lidl remains the fastest-growing grocer, with sales up by 17.9% over the latest 12 weeks, raising its market share to 7%. This is its highest rate of growth since September 2017. Aldi also performed strongly, and its market share increased by 0.9 percentage points to 9.1%.