Shopping bills ‘rising rapidly’
GROCERY prices rose 1.7 per cent last month and are set to rise rapidly over the coming months, squeezing households’ already under-pressure budgets.
The monthly grocery bill for an average household increased by £5.94.
The figures come from market research company Kantar, which blames the HGV driver shortage, rising fuel costs, commodities shortages, fewer discounts being offered and Brexitrelated trade friction for pushing up payments at supermarket tills.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at the data analytics company, said that while food price inflation “is not massive at the moment, it is quickly rising”.
He added: “The typical household spends £4,726 per year in the supermarkets, so any future price rises will quickly add up.
“Shoppers will look to manage their spend by carefully selecting the products and retailers that offer them the best value.”
Kantar added that the petrol crisis, which started on September 23 when BP warned that it would have to close some sites due to tanker driver shortages, has resulted in shoppers limiting the number of trips they make to stores. It said that the average household made 15.5 journeys to supermarkets last month, the lowest figure since February.
Additionally, it provided a small boost to online services, with the proportion of groceries over the internet rising 0.2 points to 12.4 per cent of the overall market.
According to Kantar’s data, Tesco and Lidl were the only supermarkets to gain market share over the 12 weeks to the end of October. Market leader Tesco grew its share by 0.6 points to 27.5 per cent, while Lidl increased by 0.4 points to give it 6.2 per cent of the market.
Elsewhere, the Retail Trust has begun a fundraising drive after demand for its support services for workers in the sector soared almost 90 per cent because of the Covid pandemic.
The industry charity has handed out over £1.2million in financial aid to help retail employees pay their bills and run over 11,000 counselling sessions to support those facing stress, anxiety and depression.