Price of weekly shop has already gone up 5.2% in a year and will keep rising

Shoppers are facing a double whammy on top of this week’s energy price rises with the cost of groceries now 5.2% higher than they were a year ago.

Grocery price inflation in the past four weeks has hit its highest level in a ­decade — leading customers to turn to cheaper products and supermarket own-brand labels while also making fewer trips to stores to save on petrol costs.

Prices are rising fastest in markets such as savoury snacks, dog food and cat food, with jumps not seen since April 2012, data company Kantar said.

It also revealed that, with life returning to normal following the Covid pandemic, shoppers are eating out more — especially among commuters returning to offices in larger numbers.

‘More and more we’re going to see consumers and retailers take action to manage the growing cost of grocery baskets,’ said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insights at Kantar.

‘Own-label sales are down in line with the wider market but the proportion of spending on them versus brands has grown to 50.6%, up from 49.9% this time last year.’

Total sales fell 6.3% in the 12 weeks to March 20 compared with a year ago.

On a two-year basis they were up 0.7%, although this also included the period when shoppers stripped shelves bare as the pandemic first hit.

Meanwhile, households made 15.4 ­visits to the supermarket on average last month, compared with 15.6 trips in March 2021.

Mr McKevitt added: ‘Higher fuel prices could be playing a role here too as people try to save petrol by visiting the supermarkets less often.’

Aldi and Lidl remained the fastest growing supermarkets with sales up 3.6% over the 12 weeks compared with a year ago.

At the other end of the scale, Asda and Morrisons saw sales drop 9.9% and 11.5% respectively.

Households leaned on their credit cards for support last month as consumer borrowing grew at its fastest pace in two years.

Credit card spending rose to £1.5 billion, compared to the pre-pandemic average of £1 billion, the Bank of England reported.

Thomas Pugh, an economist at RSM UK, said the rise was ‘a sign high inflation is driving consumers to maintain their lifestyles by borrowing’ amid the cost-of-living crisis.

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