Boosted by booze and snacking for the Euros football viewers, UK supermarket sales picked up in the past month, while grocery inflation fell to its lowest since September 2021.
Supermarket price inflation dropped to 1.8% for the 12-week period ending 7 July, new data from Kantar showed today, with prices falling fastest in toilet tissues, butter and dog food.
Prices continued to rise for vitamins and supplements, as well as chilled drinks and deodorants.
Kantar found that sales increased 2.2% over the four weeks to 7 July, up from 1.0% in the preceding four-week period.
Supermarket sales benefited from the men’s Euros, said Fraser McKevitt, Kantar's head of retail and consumer insight.
“England’s hopes might have been dashed on Sunday, but there was still some cause for celebration in the grocery industry. Football fans drove beer sales up by an average of 13% on the days that the England men’s team played, compared with the same day during the previous week."
Crisp and snacks also got a boost, up by 5% compared with the month before, while the number of matches played on 'school nights' saw spending on no-alcohol and low-alcohol beer soared 38% on matchdays.
Meanwhile, the unseasonably wet weather boosted sales of artificial tan and cold and flu treatments but dampened demand for sun cream, Kantar found.
Ocado, Tesco and Lidl
Ocado Retail, the joint venture between Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) and Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS), was the fastest-growing grocer for the fifth month in a row, with sales up by 10.7% over the 12 weeks to 7 July.
Its market share rose to 1.8% from 1.7% a year ago.
Market leader Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) grabbed its largest chunk of further share gain in over two and a half years, taking 27.7% of the market, up from 27% last year.
J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY) sales grew 4.7% over the 12-week period, with its share standing at 15.3%, up from 14.9%.
More declines for Asda, down 5.3% in the period, meant its market share gap to Aldi continued to shrink, 12.7% to 10.0%, though Aldi grew only 0.1%.
The race is tighter for Morrisons to hold onto its fifth place, with Lidl growing 7.8% to the Bradford-based chain’s 1.0%, though the gap remained at 8.7% versus 8.1% as it was a month ago.