The latest inflation figures have revealed that grocery price inflation dipped to 3.2 percent during the four weeks leading up to 14 April.

In fact, the Kantar data has highlighted that, thanks to supermarket promotions, shoppers in the UK have been able to save a total of £1.3 billion.

“The decline has been aided by a significant increase in promotional spending, with items bought on offer making up 29.3 percent of supermarket sales, the highest level outside of Christmas since June 2021,” explained Kantar.

According to Head of Retail and Consumer Insight at Worldpanel by Kantar, Fraser McKevitt, there has been “steady annual growth promotions” over the last 11 months.

“Deals helped shoppers save a massive £1.3 billion in the latest four weeks, almost £46 per household.  This emphasis on offers, coupled with falling prices in some categories like toilet tissues, butter and milk, has helped to bring the rate of grocery inflation down for shoppers at the till.”

Going further, insights showed that this year’s early Easter in March “didn’t dent seasonal sales”, with consumers spending more than £100 million for the first time ever in the seven days up to and including Easter Sunday.

“Higher prices have played a role in reaching that record spend figure, but the number of chocolate eggs sold in the seven days to Easter was also 3% higher this spring than last, with 37 percent of consumers buying one in that week.  Hot cross buns were even more popular, enjoyed by 45 percent of Britons,” continued McKevitt.

“The growth in confectionery also reflects a broader trend towards snacking in British diets.  Over the past decade, there’s been an increase in almost all types of snacks.  Consumers munched on chocolate confectionery 93 million more times in the year to June 2023 than in the twelve months to June 2013.  Fruit has also bumped up the list of Britain’s snack choices – 314 million more pieces of fruit were eaten between meals in 2023 than in 2013.”

With the two bank holidays in May fast approaching, Kantar believes that consumers and retailers alike will be anticipating a month of spending. Excluding the Coronation, the weeks before the two standard long weekends in May 2023 saw an average increase in sales of £82 million, reflecting a three percent uplift in spend.

When it comes to what retailers have been experiencing growth, Ocado was found to be the fasted growing grocer during the twelve weeks leading up to 14 April, with its sales increasing by 12.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Tesco and Sainsbury’s both gained 0.4 percentage points of share in the past 12 weeks, dominating 27.4 percent and 15.3 percent of the market respectively.  In fact, Sainsbury’s’ sales were found to rise by 6.8 percent, meanwhile Tesco grew by 5.9 percent.

Stay updated with the latest grocery inflation information each month on the New Food website.