UK grocery price inflation last month softened by the most so far this year, according to fresh industry data.
Average prices in supermarkets were found to be 14.9% higher compared to the same period last year, based on data accumulated by Kantar in the four weeks leading up to 9 July.
This figure represents a decrease from the previous four-week period, where grocery inflation stood at 16.5%.
It marks the most significant decline since inflation reached its peak at 17.5% in March, said Katar.
This trend suggests that the reduction in commodity prices and the easing of other cost pressures are now starting to have an impact on consumers.
“Grocery price inflation has now been falling for four months in a row," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
"That will be good news for many households although, of course, the rate is still incredibly high."
He noted that the latest change comes as spending on promotions has gone up for the first time in two years, now accounting for just over a quarter of the total market at 25.2%.
"One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in this area is retailers ramping up loyalty card deals like Tesco’s Clubcard Prices and Sainsbury’s Nectar Prices. This could signal a change in focus by the grocers who had been concentrating their efforts on everyday low pricing, particularly by offering more value own-label lines."
He added: "Prices were rising quickly last summer so this latest slowdown is partially down to current figures being compared with those higher rates one year ago.”
Intense competition also helped slow price growth, with Kantar observing J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY) sales growth edged ahead of Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) and Asda for the first time since January.
Sainsbury's grew sales 10.7% year on year, maintaining its share of the market for the third consecutive month at 14.9%, with Asda growing 10.5% and Tesco 10.2%, giving them market shares of 13.6% and 27.0% respectively.
Aldi kept its title as the fastest growing supermarket chain, with sales up by 24.0% to give it a 10.2% market share, up from 9.1% a year ago.
Not far behind, with sales increasing 22.3, Lidl increased its market share 0.7 percentage points to 7.7%, closing further on taking fifth place from Morrisons, despite 2.5% sales growth being its best performance since April 2021 and its eighth month in a row of improvement.
Both Waitrose and Co-op grew by 5.1% over the 12 weeks, the largest boost both retailers have experienced since March 2021, while Iceland grew 8.9% and Ocado Retail, the joint venture between Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) and Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS), 2.0%.