// UK grocery inflation drops for first time in nearly two years
// Aldi and Lidl continued to grow the strongest in the last 12 weeks
Grocery inflation in the UK has fallen for the first time in nearly two years, but remained near record highs.
Kantar found that grocery inflation in the four weeks to November 27 was 14.6%, down 0.1 percentage points from October’s record high, marking the first fall in 21 months.
Take-home grocery sales have increased by 5.9% year on year in the 12 weeks to 27 November 2022, the fastest level of growth since March 2021.
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Aldi and Lidl continued to grow the strongest in the last 12 weeks, with both of them opening new stores across the UK, according to Kantar.
Lidl’s year-on-year sales increased by 22.0%, pushing its market share to a record 7.4%.
An additional 1.5 million households shopped with Aldi compared with 2021 as it grew sales by 24.4% to claim 9.3% of the market.
Kantar head of retail and consumer insight, Fraser McKevitt said: “We’re seeing yet more evidence of the coping strategies shoppers are adopting to mitigate rising costs, and in particular own label sales are growing at pace, now up 11.7% year on year.
“The cheapest value own label lines have soared by 46.3%, but people still want to find room for treats at this time of year and this is driving growth at the other end of the spectrum too. Premium own label sales are up by 6.1% to £461 million in November.”
Asda’s sales grew ahead of the sector, up by 6.1%, keeping its share steady at 14.0%.
Tesco’s market share is at 27.2% as its sales rose by 3.9%, while Sainsbury’s pushed up sales by 4.3%.
Meanwhile, Co-op increased sales by 3.5% and achieved 6.0% market share.
Waitrose’s market share is at 4.5% while Iceland’s sales grew by 6.1%, as its share remained at 2.3%.
Ocado’s market share is slightly down at 1.7%, with sales declines concentrated in its traditional south east and London heartland.
“As we move into the busiest time of the year for supermarkets, there are signs that the pace of grocery price inflation is easing off slightly,” McKevitt said.
“Grocery inflation still has a long way to come down though and based on the current rate, shoppers will have to spend an extra £60 in December to buy the same items as last year. The cost of a traditional Christmas dinner for four has hit £31 in 2022, an example of just how much rising prices are impacting people at the tills and in their daily lives.”
McKevitt expects December to be “a record-breaking month with sales going above the £12 billion mark for the first time”.
“We’re expecting Friday 23 December to be the busiest day for pre-Christmas shopping,” he said.
