UK grocery inflation fell to 3.2%, Kantar By Reuters said.
james davey
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s grocery price inflation fell for the 14th consecutive month in April, partly due to increased promotional activity in supermarkets, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Market research firm Kantar said annual food price inflation was 3.2% in the four weeks to April 14, compared with 4.5% in the previous four weeks.
Kantar said items bought under the offer accounted for 29.3% of supermarket sales, the highest since June 2021 excluding Christmas.
“The emphasis on offers, coupled with falling prices in some categories such as toilet paper, butter and milk, has helped lower grocery inflation rates for shoppers at the checkout,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insights at Worldpanel. Kantar said.
However, he noted that prices are still rising rapidly in markets such as sugar, chocolate confectionery, chilled fruit juices and beverages.
Official UK data released last week showed overall inflation fell to 3.2% in March, with food inflation slowing to 4%.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has sought credit for cutting inflation by more than half ahead of this year’s election, despite little signs of an uptick in opinion polls for his Conservative Party, which is well behind opposition Labor.
Kantar said online player Ocado (LON:) was again the fastest-growing grocer, with sales up 12.5% in the 12 weeks to April 14.
Market leader Tesco (OTC:) and second-place Sainsbury’s recorded sales growth of 5.9% and 6.8% respectively, with both expanding their market share compared to the previous year.
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Discounters Lidl and Aldi recorded sales growth of 9.1% and 2.8% respectively, but Aldi’s market share fell slightly.
Third-place Asda lagged again, with sales down 0.4% and market share down 60 basis points. This contrasts with the optimistic tone of the 2023 results released on Monday.
Kantar also said overall online grocery sales accounted for 12.0% for the first time since July 2022.
Market share and sales growth (%) of UK supermarkets
Market Share Market Share % Change
12 weeks to 12 weeks until sale
April 14 April 16 (annual basis)
2024 2023
Tesco 27.4 27.0 5.9
Sainsbury’s 15.3 14.9 6.8
Asda 13.4 14.0 -0.4
Aldi 10.0 10.1 2.8
Morrison 8.7 8.7 3.8
Riddle 8.0 7.6 9.1
Cooperative 5.4 5.7 -0.1
Waitrose 4.5 4.5 3.7
Iceland 2.2 2.2 3.7
Ocado 1.9 1.7 12.5
Source: Kantar
