Shop prices pushed lower by discounting in December - BRC
Shop prices continued to fall in December, industry research showed on Thursday, driven by heavy discounting.
According to the latest BRC-NielsenIQ shop price index, deflation was 1.0%, compared to deflation of 0.6% in the previous month.
Within that, non-food deflation was -2.4%, its most since April 2021. Food inflation was 1.8%, unchanged on November but still the lowest rate since December 2021.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Retailers discounted heavily for Black Friday, as they attempted to make up for weaker sales earlier in the year.
"However, the later Black Friday timing brought many of the non-food discounts into the measurement period, making non-food prices look more deflationary than the underlying trend."
Black Friday was on 29 November last year, compared to 24 November in 2023. Retailers tend to discount heavily in the build-up to the event and then maintain the cheaper prices into the following week.
Dickinson continued: "As retailers battle £7bn of increased costs in 2025, including higher employer NI, National Living Wage and new packaging levies, there is little hope of prices going anywhere but up."
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, said: "During December, shoppers benefited from both lower inflation than last year and bigger discounts, as both food and non-food retailers were keen to drive sales after a slow start to the quarter.
"However, higher household costs are unlikely to dissipate anytime soon so retailers will need to carefully manage any inflationary pressure in the months ahead."