British shoppers face renewed pressure on their budgets in October after grocery price inflation edged higher for the second month in a row, data from Kantar showed on Tuesday.
The market researcher said annual grocery price inflation was 2.3% in the four weeks to 3 November, up from 2.0% in the previous four-week period.
Data showed that prices are rising fastest in products such as chilled soft drinks and chocolate confectionery.
Conversely, prices are falling fastest in items such as toothbrushes, household paper products and sparkling wine.
UK supermarkets have warned that tax increases in the new Labour government’s budget last month – together with an increase in minimum wage – will be inflationary.
Official data published last month showed that overall UK inflation eased to 1.7% in September.
Data for October will be published on 20 November.
Kantar said grocery sales rose 2.0% over the four-week period to 3 November year on year to £11.6 billion – the biggest sales month of the year so far.
The researcher said there were signs that some consumers were starting their Christmas shopping early.
It noted that 648,000 shoppers have already bought a Christmas cake, while 14.4% of households purchased mince pies in October.
Supermarkets
In the 12 weeks to 3 November, Ocado was again the fastest-growing retailer, with sales up 9.5% year on year, taking its market share to 1.8%.
Industry leader Tesco saw sales growth of 4.6% and its market share rose 60 basis points to hit 27.9%.
Sales at number-two group Sainsbury’s rose 4.4% and it held 15.5% of market share.
However, number-three Asda was again the laggard with sales down 5.5% and it lost 1 percentage point of market share year on year, taking 12.5% of the market.
Last week, Asda chairman Stuart Rose said the grocer had “lost the plot” but the business was fixable.
Kantar added that discounters Aldi and Lidl saw 1.6% and 7.4% growth, respectively.
Aldi held 10.4% of the market, followed by Morrisons with 8.6% at 2.4% growth, and Lidl with 7.7% of the market.
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