Grocery price inflation slows to lowest rate since December 2024

Grocery price inflation has slowed to its lowest rate since December 2024 as the World Cup and heatwaves drove the highest number of supermarket trips in more than five years.Supermarket prices were 2.6% higher than a year ago over the four weeks to July 12, a significant slowing from June’s 3% and the lowest rate since December 2024, figures from Worldpanel by Numerator show.It is the fifth consecutive month of easing prices, although the average household’s grocery bill over the year to July is still £156 higher than the same period a year earlier.Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: “Easing price rises will come as welcome news to shoppers, but the annual bill tells a fuller story.“The average household spent £5,530 on groceries over the past 12 months to July, up £156 on the same period last year – a reminder that even as the rate of inflation cools, the cumulative cost of the weekly shop keeps climbing.”However, shoppers made 497 million trips to the supermarket over the four weeks, an average of 17 per household, and the highest figure recorded since March 2020.Trips including beer or cider purchases rose 8% year on year, while the no and low alcohol category saw a 10% surge.As another heatwave hit, household spending on burgers rose 25%, frozen lolly sales were up 17%, and bottled water sales soared by 23%.Wimbledon fortnight saw £77 million spent on strawberries and £21 million on cream.Mr McKevitt added: “Sport and sunshine combined to shape shopping habits this month, and England’s run in the tournament had a clear impact on the drinks aisle.“With shoppers stocking up on match day, and the day prior to the first three knockout matches, spending on beer rose 21% compared with the same days last year. That enthusiasm wasn’t shared in Scotland and Wales, however, where the comparable rise was just 2%.”Wimbledon fortnight saw £77 million spent on strawberries and £21 million on cream (PA)PA ArchiveLidl’s market share moved up by 0.5 percentage points over the last quarter, the largest gain for any grocer as sales at the discounter rose by 8.6%.Read MoreMorrisons returned to share growth, claiming 8.5% of the market as sales rose by 3.5%, while spending through the tills at Co-op increased by 5.6%, the fastest rate of growth since February 2021.Sainsbury’s also gained market share, moving from 15.1% last year to 15.2% in the last 12 weeks, with sales growing by 2.8%, while sales at Tesco were up by 1.7% with a market share of 27.9%.While sales at Asda were down 1.1% on last year, this was an improvement on the 3.6% drop reported last month.