The UK should prepare for retail prices to increase by roughly five per cent next year, according to analysts.
The news follows an announcement from Next boss Lord Wolfson who warned that rising cost prices would force the fashion retailer to increase its retail sale prices by around five per cent.
This would subsequently cause an estimated sales dip of around 0.5 per cent to one per cent, as well as a 5.5 per cent drop off in unit sales.
Analysts have now warned that this could be seen “across the board” and that last week‘s public spat between Unilever and Tesco is one of many going on outside the public eye.
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Predicted to hit the shelves as soon as January, the rise in prices will cost consumers around £15 billion per year and is “something consumers will have to get used to”.
“Suppliers operating in dollars or euros have had a 15% rise in their costs as a result of the referendum and more recently because of the lack of any plan following that,” Sentinel retail consultant David Sables told The Mail on Sunday.
“This is a major issue and it is coming to your shelves soon.”
KPMG‘s Andrew Underwood added that as over half of the UK‘s retail items are imported from overseas, thousands of price rises will soon hit Britain‘s shelves, some by as much as eight per cent.
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