UK grocery inflation picks up a bit as sales growth slows; Ocado leads

(Alliance News) - UK grocery price inflation accelerated in recent weeks, while sales increased at a slower pace reflecting a drop in shopping trips, a closely watched report showed on Tuesday.

Data from Worldpanel by Numerator showed that like-for-like grocery price inflation increased to 2.3% in the four weeks to September 6, speeding up from 2.1% in the four weeks to August 9, which had been the weakest inflation since October 2024.

Reflecting the return to school and work, the report showed a shift in shopping habits with 18 million fewer trips to the grocers recorded in the recent month compared to a peak of 497 million in July.

"The end of the summer holidays typically brings a cooling in trip frequency and a pivot towards priority purchases, and this year is no exception," commented Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel by Numerator.

While grocery inflation "ticked up modestly last month, it remains significantly lower than the levels we saw earlier in the year, giving households some welcome breathing room," he said.

In the four-week period, total sales increased by 2.0%, slowing from 2.5% in the prior four-weeks.

For the 12 weeks to September 6, total UK grocery sales grew 2.6% to GBP36.21 billion from GBP35.29 billion a year ago.

The fastest-growing grocer was once again Ocado Retail, the joint venture between Ocado Group PLC and Marks & Spencer Group PLC, while Asda returned to growth for the first time since March 2024.

Ocado, with sales up by 13%, was the fastest growing grocer for the 30th consecutive time, used by 4.4% of households during the latest 12 weeks. Share for the online-only specialist increased by 0.2 percentage point to 2.2% of the market.

Tesco PLC saw sales rise by 1.7%, with the UK's largest supermarket now holding 27.8% of the market.

Sales at J Sainsbury PLC were 2.9% higher than last year. The UK's second-largest grocer saw growth just ahead of Morrisons, where sales were up 2.8%, meaning each retailer maintained a market share of 15.2% and 8.4%, respectively.

Sales at Asda rose by 0.1% over the 12 weeks period, and the Leeds-based retailer now holds a market share of 11.5%, with a higher share of 16.0% in the North of England. It is outperforming the market in categories such as hot drinks, ice cream and chilled poultry.

Another grocer to win share was Lidl, which moved up to 8.7% of the market from 8.3% a year ago. Sales rose by 8.0%, helped especially by strong performance across confectionery, soft drinks and fresh produce.

Fellow discounter Aldi accounts for 10.6% of the market, and spending through the tills was 0.7% higher than a year ago.

Take-home sales at convenience retailer Co-op were up by 2.9%, with market share flat at 5.5%. Waitrose sales grew by 2.8%, with share stable on 4.5%. Matching the growth rate of the overall market, Iceland grew by 2.6%, with share of 2.3%.

By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter

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