Groceries enjoy a good Christmas but inflation begins to bite, says Kantar

By Éilis Cronin in Industry News 5th January 2022

Grocery spending in the UK was £11.7bn in December, 3% down on 2020 but still 8% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to the latest Kantar figures.

The analyst also found that shoppers returned to shopping in-store in the largest numbers since March 2020.

Total grocery sales in the four weeks to 26 December were £11.7bn.

Products that did well this Christmas included premium own-label products, up 6.8% on last year, and chilled vegetarian ranges, which increased sales by 6%.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “We can really see just how much spending accelerated in December compared with earlier in the year by looking at the average trend during March to November when sales were down by 2.5% against 2020.”

Kantar figures also confirmed other evidence that inflation is beginning to grip the grocery market.

McKevitt said: “Grocery price inflation reached 3.5% in December, adding nearly £15 to shoppers’ average monthly grocery bill.

“We saw prices rise faster for a short while in Spring 2020 when promotions were cut to maintain product availability, but before that you would have to go back nearly four years to January 2018 to see inflation running higher.”