Across the board, grocery prices are up 3.2 percent in the last four weeks according to data from Kantar out today. The average cost of a Christmas dinner for four people has risen 3.4 percent, standing now at £27.48. While the average price of some staples such as potatoes and carrots has actually fallen festive classics such as Christmas pudding and Brussels sprouts have both seen prices rising five percent on average. The findings follow data from NielsenIQ last week which put fresh food inflation at 1.2 percent, the highest rate since August 2019.
Head of Retail and Consumer Insight at Kantar, Fraser McKevitt noted: “Consumer behaviour hasn’t caught up with these changes though.
“Habits we’d expect to see shift, like swapping branded products for own label or seeking out promotions, haven’t altered just yet.”
Despite the price rises customers don’t seem to be put off yet with Kantar finding premium ranges such as Tesco Finest and Asda Extra Special the fastest growing in stores.
Spending is in fact up 7 percent compared to the same period in 2019 before the pandemic.
Head of the British Retail Consortium Helen Dickinson has said that retailers “are doing all they can” to reduce the impacts of rising prices on customers.
However with price hikes increasingly filtering through she has called on the Government to help find solutions to labour and supply shortages which have played a key role in driving up costs.
The issues are not unique to the UK though with the United Nations’ Food Price Index rising to its highest level in a decade in November as global prices rise.
In Germany food price inflation is at 4.5 percent while in the US overall inflation has climbed to 6.2 percent.
Discounters Lidl and Aldi both saw their market shares grow with Lidl hitting a new high of 6.4 percent.
Meanwhile sales at Ocado fell by 2.4 percent year on year, though they remain 35 percent up from two years ago.
Online sales generally have suffered in recent weeks with sales down 12.5 percent in the four weeks to the end of November.