British grocery prices rose at their lowest rate since March 2022 this month, data from Kantar has shown.
Post-Christmas supermarket promotions picked up the new year slowdown in spending.
Annual grocery price inflation was 5.3% in the four weeks to 18 February, the market researcher has reported.
This figure is down 1.5 percentage points from the previous four-week period.
‘Especially Welcome’
The strategic insight director at Kantar, Tom Steel, said customers had been dealing with an inflation rate over 4% for two years.
“This latest easing of price rises is especially welcome,” Steel said.
Steel also noted that consumer spending on special offers increased by 4% in February. This adjustment is worth £586 million more than the same month in 2023.
Earlier this month, Morrisons became the latest UK retailer to launch a price match scheme in an effort to retain market share.
Kantar reported that prices are rising fastest in confectionery and frozen potato products, and falling fastest in butter, milk and toilet tissue.
Supermarkets
Over a four week period, take-home grocery sales rose in value by 5.1% year-on-year according to Kantar.
Lidl was the fastest growing retailer in the UK for the sixth month in a row. The discounter’s sales were up 10.9% across the 12 weeks to 18 February.
Britain’s number two retailer Sainsburys was also the second fastest growing. The retailer saw a 7.6% sales increase.
Market leader Tesco saw a 6.2% increase.
Asda and Morrisons were behind the rest with a growth of 1.9% and 3.1% respectively.
Read More: UK Consumer Morale Falls Unexpectedly In February – GfK
