Grocery sector sees welcome boost as growth hits highest in three years

grocery

Sales at Britain’s supermarkets have finally started to pick up after a difficult couple of years, reporting the fastest growth in sales in three and a half years over the last quarter.

The UK grocery market grew by 3.7 percent in the 12 weeks to 23 April, according to the consumer consultancy Kantar Worldpanel. Sales were driven by Easter food shopping and price rises driven by inflation, adding almost £1 billion in sales compared with a year earlier.

Prices rose by 2.6 percent over the past quarter, up from 2.3 percent in the three months to the end of March. The positive figures come as a welcome boost for the grocery market, which has suffered from increasing price warfare and the advent of newcomers Lidl and Aldi.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “All 10 major retailers are in growth for the first time in three and a half years, when we last saw like-for-like grocery inflation as high as it is now. While prices do look set to rise further, the current inflation rate of 2.6% is still below the average level experienced by shoppers between 2010 and 2014.”

£325 million was spent on Easter eggs in the period, an increase on last year’s £294 million. Spending was boosted by a rise in teh price paid for the average egg, which grew 8.6 percent to hit £1.65.

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Miranda is the online editor of UK Investor Magazine. Her interests include private equity, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, gender equality and coffee.