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UK grocery price inflation slowed in July to its lowest level in 18 months, while warmer weather and major sporting events sent shoppers to stores more frequently, industry data showed on Tuesday. Like-for-like annual grocery price inflation slowed to 2.6% in the four weeks to July 12 from 3.0% in the four weeks to June 14, marking the fifth consecutive monthly slowdown and the lowest reading since December 2024, according to figures from Worldpanel by Numerator. Take-home grocery sales rose 3.3% over the four-week period. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel by Numerator, said: ‘Easing price rises will come as welcome news to shoppers, but the annual bill tells a fuller story. The average household spent £5,530 on groceries over the past twelve months to July, up £156 on the same period last year - a reminder that even as the rate of inflation cools, the cumulative cost of the weekly shop keeps climbing.’ Worldpanel said major sporting events such as the football World Cup and hot weather in the UK encouraged consumers to make 497 million shopping trips during the four weeks, equivalent to an average of 17 trips per household and the highest shopping frequency since March 2020. Trips including beer or cider purchases rose 8% from a year earlier, while purchases of no- and low-alcohol products increased 10%. Spending on burgers climbed 25%, bottled water rose 23% and frozen lollies increased 17%, while Wimbledon helped drive £77 million of strawberry sales and £21 million of cream purchases. ‘Sport and sunshine combined to shape shopping habits this month, and England’s run in the tournament had a clear impact on the drinks aisle. With shoppers stocking up on matchday, and the day prior to the first three knockout matches, spending on beer rose 21% compared with the same days last year,’ McKevitt said. Convenience stores also benefited from the seasonal demand, attracting 7 million more shopping trips than in the same period last year. For the first time since August 2025, branded products outperformed own-label goods. Sales of branded products increased 5.5%, compared with 4.0% growth for own-label products, led by soft drinks, confectionery and ice cream, Worldpanel said. Over the 12 weeks to July 12, Lidl posted the strongest market share gains among Britain’s supermarkets. Sales at the discounter rose 8.6% on a year before, lifting its market share by 0.5 percentage point to 11.1%. Ocado Retail, an online joint venture between Ocado Group PLC and Marks & Spencer Group PLC, recorded the fastest sales growth, with revenue rising 14%, increasing its market share to 2.2% from 2.0% a year earlier. Morrisons returned to market share growth, with sales increasing 3.5% on year and its share rising to 8.5% from 8.4%. Sales at Co-op climbed 5.6%, its fastest growth since February 2021, lifting its market share to 5.4% from 5.2%. J Sainsbury PLC increased its market share to 15.2% from 15.1% as sales rose 2.8%. Britain’s largest supermarket, Tesco PLC, reported sales growth of 1.7%, with its market share unchanged at 27.9%. Asda’s sales fell 1.1% year-on-year, although Worldpanel noted this was a marked improvement from the 3.6% decline reported last month. Its market share stood at 11.5%. Aldi’s sales increased 0.7%, leaving it with a market share of 10.8%. Waitrose and Iceland both maintained their market shares at 4.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Waitrose sales rose 2.5%, while Iceland’s increased 2.3%. Separately, grocery-only sales at Marks & Spencer Group PLC climbed 16% in the 12-week period, the fastest rate of growth since May 2023. M&S is not included in Worldpanel’s grocery market share rankings because of the larger contribution of clothing and general merchandise to its overall sales. The survey is based on over 75,000 identical products compared year-on-year. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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