Grocery inflation in the UK stood at +3.6% for the 12 week period to December 3, according to Kantar Worldpanel, meaning that prices in the UK have now been rising in every 12 week period this year, since 1 January.
This year’s price increases followed 30 consecutive periods of price deflation in the UK market, which ran from September 2014 to December 2016.
“With Christmas just around the corner, prices are still rising,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel. “Like-for-like grocery inflation now stands at 3.6% – its highest level since 2013.”
Categories in which prices are rising fastest include butter, fish and fresh pork, while prices are only seeing deflation in a couple of categories, including fresh poultry and crisps.
Willing To Spend
Despite the higher prices on the shelves, the UK consumer appears eager to spend, particularly on alcohol categories, Kantar Worldpanel said.
“Alcohol sales are up by nearly £172 million compared to this time last year and while volume sales have increased, this impressive growth is mainly a result of consumers choosing more expensive festive tipples,” said McKevitt.
“Gin, whisky and sparkling wine all saw significant growth: up by 26%, 10% and 7% respectively as shoppers pushed the boat out. Still small but growing rapidly, non-alcoholic beer is the new kid on the block this Christmas – growing sales by 27% during the past 12 weeks.”
Overall, supermarket sales for the period grew 3.1% for the period, compared to the same period last year.
As reported earlier, Tesco has consolidated its position as the UK’s market leading supermarket, growing sales by 2.5% year-on-year, ahead of its Big Four rivals. Discounter Aldi has also posted a strong performance, with sales up 15.1% year-on-year.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
