Record inflation sees supermarket sales spike

Supermarket sales surged last month, industry data showed on Tuesday, driven by historic levels of food inflation.

According to NielsenIQ, total till sales jumped 7.6% in the four weeks to 3 December, compared to growth of 5.3% in the previous month.

The spike in sales was largely a result of double-digit food inflation, however, with shoppers otherwise remaining cautious, Nielsen noted. It said customers had focused on core essentials during the month, boosting value growth in categories such as dairy, pet food and frozen food.

In contrast, beer, wine and spirits - normally a key category in the build-up to Christmas - fell by 1.5% in value and by 3.6% in volume.

According to recent figures from the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ, UK food price inflation hit a high of 12.4% in November, with fresh foods leading the hike.

Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at the market research firm, said: "With double digit food inflation, shoppers will be spending more to buy less this Christmas.

"If the current momentum is maintained, the sales at the grocery multiples will be the highest yet - around £12.6bn - in the next week, with spending during Christmas week ending 24 December topping £4bn for the first time.

"Even so, volume sales will fall by around 4% at the supermarkets this Christmas."

Among individual grocers, annual sales at Lidl jumped 12.9% in the last 12 weeks and by 12.4% at rival discounter Aldi. At frozen food specialist Iceland, sales jumped 7.6%.

At Tesco, the UK’s largest grocer by market share, sales rose 6.5%, while at J Sainsbury they increased 6.6%. Wm Morrisons saw sales fall 3.3%, while Waitrose sales eased 1.5%.