Meat and coffee prices drive grocery price inflation
Grocery price inflation in the UK passed five per cent in September to its highest level since July after the cost of fresh meat and coffee jumped.
Like-for-like grocery price inflation rose to 5.2 per cent over the four weeks to 5 October versus the same period last year, according to the latest figures from Worldpanel by Numerator.
Spending on offers hit its highest level since April at 29.4 per cent, as consumers “hunted for deals to ease the burden on their wallets”, Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said.
“Households are juggling a lot of different things when choosing what and where to buy their groceries. Inevitably, cost will be up towards the top of the list as price rises accelerate,” he added.
Worldpanel has estimated that Brits’ average household spend at the grocers has now reached £5,283 a year, a figure which could rise by £275 by the end of the year.
Increasing prices have been driven by a combination of factors, including a higher incidence of disease amongst livestock, a shortage of carbon dioxide, unstable weather patterns and higher taxes.
Overall take-home sales at the grocers, meanwhile, grew by 4.1 per cent, with online sales up 12 per cent compared with the same four weeks last year.
Online sales now make up 12.7 per cent of the market – the highest share since March 2022.
Over one in five British households did their grocery shopping online at some point in September, marking a return to the popularity seen in the latter stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Double-digit sales growth at Ocado
Online specialist Ocado remains Britain’s fastest growing grocer, with sales rising by 13.6 per cent over the 12 weeks to 5 October versus the same period a year ago.
Lidl also saw double digit growth of 10.8 per cent, taking the discounter’s market share to 8.2 per cent.
Tesco once again made the biggest share gain, climbing by 0.7 percentage points to take 28.3 per cent of the market, while Sainsbury’s lifted its market share to 15.3 per cent.
Asda and the Co-op were the only grocers to lose market share year on year, by 0.9 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points, respectively.
Aldi maintained its 10.6 per cent portion of the market as spending rose by 4.3 per cent, while Waitrose’s share held stable at 4.4 per cent after increasing sales by 3.7 per cent.