Grocery price inflation has slowed to its lowest level since October 2021 – but consumers are showing no sign of ending their cost-of-living crisis behaviour, figures suggest.
Supermarket prices are 2.4% higher than a year ago, slowing for the 15th month in a row from April’s 3.2%, according to analysts Kantar.
Grocery inflation is now just 0.8 percentage points above the 10-year average of 1.6% between 2012 and 2021, just before prices began to climb.
Sales of premium own label ranges continue to increase too, up by 9.9% compared with a year ago.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Grocery price inflation is gradually returning to what we would consider more normal levels.
“However, after nearly two-and-a-half years of rapidly rising prices, it could take a bit longer for shoppers to unwind the habits they have learnt to help them manage the cost of living crisis.”
Figures show shoppers made the most of the early May bank holiday weekend to dust off the barbecue, with burger sales climbing by 13% and beer and wine sales up by 9% and 21% respectively compared with the week before.
Lidl reached a new record-high market share of 8.1%, fuelled in part by its bakery counters, as well as its loyalty scheme.
Britain’s biggest grocer Tesco now takes 27.6% of the market, its 5.6% growth in sales matched by Sainsbury’s, which now claims 15.1%.
