The soaring cost of living is increasingly affecting food shoppers’ spending habits as punishing inflation replaces the pandemic at the front of consumers’ minds.

Grocery sales fell 6.3% over the 12 weeks to March 20, the latest data from market monitor Kantar showed. They were up 0.7% on a two-year basis but, as grocery price inflation reached 5.2% – the highest in a decade – shoppers turned to own-brand lines in search of savings.

Own label accounted for 50.6% of all spending in the period, versus 49.9% a year ago. Retailers also offered fewer round pound prices as they adapted to tougher trading conditions. The proportion of packs sold at £1, £2 or £3 dropped from 18.2% a year ago to 15.9%.

 

 

Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said: “What we’re really starting to see is the switch from the pandemic being the dominant factor driving our shopping behaviour towards the growing impact of inflation, as the cost of living becomes the bigger issue on consumers’ minds.”

“More and more we’re going to see consumers and retailers take action to manage the growing cost of grocery baskets. Consumers are increasingly turning to own-label products, which are usually cheaper than branded alternatives. Meanwhile, the grocers are also adapting their pricing strategies in response to the rising cost of goods.”

Value grocers Aldi and Lidl “led the pack”, the data showed, as each delivered year-on-year sales growth of 3.6%. Aldi achieved a record market share of 8.6%, while Lidl matched the 6.4% high it originally notched up in November. 

The only other retailer that performed ahead of the market was Tesco, whose 27.4% share was up from 27.1% year on year.

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