UK grocery inflation falls to 4.5% but shoppers still struggling - Kantar

The fall in price inflation for the four weeks to March 17 compared with 5.3% in the prior four-week period, said industry market research firm Kantar.

“Grocery inflation has come down significantly since hitting an eye-watering peak of 17% in March 2023. However, despite this continued slowdown, many British households are still feeling the squeeze. Twenty-three per cent identified themselves as struggling financially in our data – the same proportion as reported in November last year," said Fraser McKevitt, Kantar's head of retail and consumer insight.

Online supermarket Ocado was the fastest growing retailer in Britain for the 12 weeks to March 17, as it benefited from a sustained voucher campaign which helped it attract customers.

The retailer improved sales by 9.5% in the latest 12 weeks, ahead of the total online market which rose by 6.6%, to account for 1.9% of all take-home sales.

Britain’s two largest grocers, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, climbed by 5.8% and 6.7% respectively on an annual basis. Their shares of the market nudged up by 0.4 percentage points each to 27.3% and 15.2%.

Morrisons rose 3.6% increase in sales over the latest 12 weeks and its share of spend stands at 8.7%. Asda, meanwhile, increased sales by only 0.2% and now holds 13.8% of the market.

Aldi’s sales rose by 3.1%, with its market share at 9.8%. Fellow discounter Lidl grew by 8.8% to capture a 7.8% share of the market, helped by a 24% rise in sales of baked goods and a 11% jump in fruit, vegetables and salads. Iceland grew sales by 2.2%. Waitrose holds a 4.5% share, with sales up by 3.9%, while Co-op held 5.5% of the market.

Sales of branded goods were growing faster than own-label, sales of supermarkets’ premium own-label lines rose 16.1%, the fastest rate in nearly three years.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com