Grocery price inflation eased further in April, aided by a significant increase in promotional spending, new data showed on Tuesday.
Kantar said annual UK grocery price inflation ebbed to 3.2% in the four weeks to April 14, its lowest level since February 2022, and down from 4.5% in March.
For the same four-week period, the market research firm said overall take-home grocery sales rose 3.3%. For the 12 weeks to April 14, total grocery sales rose 4.3% to £33.92 billion from £32.51 billion a year prior.
An early Easter failed to dent sales, Kantar said, with spending on confectionary topping £100 million for the first time ever in the seven days up to and including Easter Sunday.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, explains: ‘Higher prices have played a role in reaching that record spend figure, but the number of chocolate eggs sold in the seven days to Easter was also 3% higher this spring than last, with 37% of consumers buying one in that week. Hot cross buns were even more popular, enjoyed by 45% of Britons.’
Ocado Retail was the fastest growing retailer this month.
The firm improved sales by 12.5% in the latest 12 weeks to £638 million, ahead of the total online market, which rose by 6.8%, to account for 1.9% of all take-home sales.
The online-only grocer is a joint venture between Ocado Group PLC and Marks & Spencer Group PLC.
Year-on-year sales at Britain’s two largest grocers, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, climbed by 6.8% and 5.9% respectively in the 12-week period to £9.28 billion and £5.18 billion. Further, their shares of the market nudged up by 0.4 percentage points each to 27.4% and 15.3% respectively.
Aldi’s sales stepped up by 2.8%, with its market share at 10%. Fellow discounter Lidl grew by 9.1% to capture an 8.0% share of the market.
Shares in Tesco were up 1.5% at 295.50 pence each in London on Tuesday morning. Sainsbury shares were up 1.2% to 272.20p. Ocado rose by 4.8% to 375.70p, while Marks & Spencer edged up 1.7% to 261.00p.
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