24th Jun 2025 10:50
(Kantar corrects to say June grocery price inflation rate was highest since February 2024.)
(Alliance News) - UK grocery sales climbed over the past three months, with supermarket footfall spiking to a five-year high, though price inflation has intensified, Kantar said on Tuesday.
In its latest survey, Kantar said higher prices did not prevent UK shoppers stocking up at supermarkets. Data showed 490 million trips to supermarkets were made in the four weeks to June 15.
"That's the highest we've recorded since March 2020," said Kantar analyst Fraser McKevitt.
"As the sun tempted more people out, fresh fruit sales were one of the biggest winners. Consumers bought 2,400 packs of strawberries every minute in the last four weeks. People are trading up to more exotic fruits too, with sales of mangoes and blueberries climbing by 27% and 10% each.
"Consumer concerns over price are continuing, and this is reflected in the figures. Sales of own label ranges grew at 4.2% this month, ahead of branded lines, as shoppers looked to balance their budgets."
Over the 12 weeks to June 15, total grocery sales in the UK rose 5.0% on-year to GBP35.71 billion from GBP34.00 billion, Kantar reported.
Grocery price inflation hit 4.7% this month, the loftiest since February 2024, and accelerating from 4.1% in May, it said. The pace of grocery price inflation in the four weeks to February 18, 2024 was 5.3%.
Taking only the final four weeks of the survey, volumes fell 0.4%, the first on-year decline of the year. Kantar said "changing health priorities", including growing use of weight loss drugs, could be a reason for the decline.
"Supermarkets and grocery brands are entering new territory as weight loss drugs become more popular, with four in 100 households in Great Britain now including at least one GLP-1 user. That's almost twice as many as last year so while it's still pretty low, it's definitely a trend that the industry should keep an eye on as these drugs have the potential to steer choices at the till. Four in five of the users we surveyed say they plan to eat fewer chocolates and crisps, and nearly three quarters intend to cut back on biscuits," Kantar analyst McKevitt said.
Tesco PLC registered the largest market share gain over the period, Kantar said. The grocer's share of the UK market rose to 28.1% during the recent 12 weeks from 27.6% a year earlier. Sales during the period rose 7.0% on-year to GBP10.03 billion.
J Sainsbury PLC sales rose 5.7% on-year to GBP5.44 billion. Its market share edged up to 15.2% from 15.1%.
Ocado Retail's market share inched up to 1.9% from 1.8%, with sales at the online-only grocer advancing 12% to GBP680 million. Ocado Retail is a joint venture between Ocado Group PLC and Marks & Spencer Group PLC.
Market share gains were made at discount chains Aldi and Lidl. Aldi's market share in the UK rose to 10.9% from 10.8%, while Lidl's improved to 8.1% from 7.7%. By market share, they are the fourth and sixth most popular UK grocers.
Asda and Morrisons surrendered some market share. The market share at Asda, third on the list of most popular grocers, fell to 11.9% from 12.7%. The share at Morrisons ebbed to 8.4% from 8.7%.
Elsewhere, Kantar noted grocery spend at Marks & Spencer rose 12% over the 12-week period. M&S is not included in the wider Kantar data, as it does not fall under the grocer category according to the methodology the survey is based on.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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