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Households will typically spend around 10% more on Christmas dinner this year, despite supermarket price growth slowing for the first time in nearly two years.
Figures from market research firm Kantar show that the cost of a traditional Christmas dinner for four – including frozen turkey, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes and Christmas pudding – has risen to £31 this year, up 9.3% from 2021.
Although the rate of grocery price inflation fell 0.1 percentage point to 14.6% in the past four weeks, annual price growth slowed for the first time in 21 months.
“As we head into one of the busiest times of the year for supermarkets, there are signs that the pace of grocery price inflation is easing slightly,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insights at Kantar.
“Grocery inflation still has a long way to go, and based on current rates, shoppers will have to spend an extra £60 in December to buy the same items as last year.”
The data showed that sales of mince pies and Christmas puddings fell year-on-year in terms of the number of people buying them and the overall number of items bought, as people tried to limit spending.
Rising bills for energy and food pushed the headline rate of consumer price inflation to 11.1% in October – the highest level since 1981, reducing the spending power of UK households.
Overall, a combination of inflation and festive spending will push December grocery sales past £12bn for the first time on record, with December 23 expected to be the busiest day for pre-Christmas shopping.
Despite the fact that shoppers are trying to offset rising prices by switching to supermarkets’ own label brands, sales rose 11.7% year-on-year. Sales of the cheapest own-label brand rose 46.3%, Kantar said.
Discount grocers continue to benefit as shoppers try to get the most out of stretched budgets. Lidl’s sales in the last 12 weeks have risen 22% compared to a year earlier, pushing its market share to a record 7.4%. Aldi’s sales rose 24.4%, with 1.5 million more households shopping at its stores and its market share reached 9.3%.
Asda’s share remained stable at 14% despite a 6.1% increase in sales, while Tesco – the UK’s most popular supermarket with a 27.2% share – reported a 3.9% increase in sales.
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