Grocery price inflation hit yet another fresh record, according to Kantar, coming in at 13.9% over September and adding £643 to the average annual grocery bill.
Take-home grocery sales rose 4.8% in the 12 weeks ended 2 October, while grocery price inflation hit a record high since Kantar began tracking prices during the 2008 financial crash.
Shoppers were said to have bought imperfect produce as part of an effort to help manage price rises, with sales of ranges like Tesco’s Perfectly Imperfect and Morrisons Naturally Wonky up 38% month-on-month.
Supermarkets’ own label lines grew 8.1%, while Asda led the way among the biggest traditional supermarkets, welcoming an additional 417,000 customers through its doors over the 12-week period. For the fifth month in a row, Lidl was the fastest growing grocer, pushing up its sales by 20.9% over the quarter, marginally ahead of Aldi.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “The cost-of-living crisis is still hitting people hard at the checkouts and this latest data will make tough reading for many. Based on our numbers, the average household is facing a £643 jump in their annual grocery bill to £5,265 if they continue to buy the same items. Taking that at a basket level, that’s an extra £3.04 on top of the cost of the average shopping trip last year which was £21.89.”
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
