Grocery price inflation rises for first time since March 2023, says Kantar

The increase follows 17 straight months of falling rates from a peak of 17.5 per cent to its lowest point since September 2021 in July.

Consumers are witnessing a mixed picture on supermarket shelves, with prices rising across 182 product categories while the cost of 89 others fell.

Kitchen towels and baked beans are 7 per cent and 5 per cent cheaper respectively than last year.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, 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, with spending on deals rising 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.

Football fans spent £10m 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.

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.

Britain’s largest grocer Tesco maintained its streak of winning market share every month since August 2023, rising to 27.6 per cent while increasing 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.

Leeds-based Asda now takes a 12.6 per cent share, while Bradford-based Morrisons’ stake stands at 8.6 per cent, according to Kantar.Discounters Lidl and Aldi both saw sales growth.

Buoyed by a 7.8 per cent boost in sales, Lidl won an extra 0.4 percentage points of the market, taking its share to 8.1 per cent. Aldi’s market share is now 10.0 per cent, according to the latest data compiled by Kantar, which will be closely monitored by sector analyst.