Brits splurged out on chocolate and sought discounts at the supermarket, as grocery price inflation fell to 3.2 per cent over the four weeks to 14 April, marking the fourteenth monthly drop in a row.
The decline was driven by a “significant” increase in discount spending, new figures by Kantar show, with items bought on offer making up 29.3 per cent of supermarket sales – the highest level outside of Christmas since June 2021.
This will factor into the Bank of England’s considerations when deciding when and by how much it should be cutting interest rates, in a bid to control sticky inflation. It came down to 3.2 per cent in March which was higher-than expected.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel by Kantar, said: “We’ve been monitoring steady annual growth in promotions over the past 11 months as retailers respond to consumers’ desire for value. Deals helped shoppers save a massive £1.3bn in the latest four weeks, almost £46 per household.
“This emphasis on offers, coupled with falling prices in some categories like toilet tissues, butter and milk, has helped to bring the rate of grocery inflation down for shoppers at the till.”
Supermarkets and other retailers were helped by a busy Easter as demand for chocolate eggs helped drive sales.
Kantar said consumers munched on chocolate confectionery 93m more times in the year to June 2023 than in the twelve months to June 2013.
Fruit has also bumped up the list of Britain’s snack choices – 314 million more pieces of fruit were eaten between meals in 2023 than in 2013.”
Despite grocery inflation also edging down a fierce rivalry between supermarkets remains with many ramping up use of loyalty cards and price matching schemes to retain their customer base.
Middle class favourite Ocado was again the fastest growing grocer this month, improving sales by 12.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to 14 April, ahead of the total online market which grew by 6.8 per cent.
Ocado accounted for 1.9 per cent of take-home grocery sales, up from the 1.7 per cent it held a year ago.
The retailer – which operates as a joint online venture with Marks and Spencer – has turned around its fortunes by constantly lowering its prices.
Britain’s two largest grocers, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, both gained 0.4 percentage points of share in the latest 12 weeks, holding 27.4 per cent and 15.3 per cent of the market respectively. Sainsbury’s’ sales increased by 6.8 per cent and Tesco grew by 5.9 per cent.
Lidl achieved a record 8.0 per cent share of the market, also up by 0.4 percentage points versus a year ago, fuelled by sales growth of 9.1 per cent.
Fellow discounter Aldi reclaimed the 10.0 per cent market share it last held in September 2023, increasing sales by 2.8 per cent.