Grocery price inflation eases for fourth consecutive month

Grocery price inflation fell by 1.6% during the four weeks to 9 July, marking the fourth month of consecutive easing and the steepest fall since March.

At 14.9%, however, grocery price inflation still remains incredibly high.

Kantar, which provided the figures through its Worldpanel platform, said that while the shift in prices reflected a change in the cost of many staple goods, many customers turned to promotional items, which now make up over a quarter of the market.

Major supermarkets are currently under scrutiny from the Competition and Markets Authority, who have reason to believe that they are unfairly profiteering from rising prices.

Speaking to MPs last month, executives from Britain’s biggest supermarket said the market is at its “most competitive” level ever. They rejected the notion that they have been making excess profits, instead claiming that they were shielding customers from high costs.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail at Kantar, said: “One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in this [promotions] area is retailers ramping up loyalty card deals like Tesco’s Clubcard Prices and Sainsbury’s Nectar Prices.

“This could signal a change in focus by the grocers who had been concentrating their efforts on everyday low pricing, particularly by offering more value own-label lines.”

Kantar said that the average customer had saved £353 over the past year by changing their grocery habits, through methods such as buying cheaper products or visiting different markets.