Inflation adds £133 to average household shopping bill as supermarket sales soar

Supermarket sales growth accelerated to 5% over the three months to June 18 - the strongest increase since March 2012 and a stark contrast to the 0.2% decline seen this time last year - despite the ongoing political and economic uncertainty, Kantar Worldpanel grocery market share data reveals.

The robust growth was "partly" helped by grocery inflation increasing to 3.2%, adding £133 to the average household shopping bill.

Butter is almost 20% more expensive than last year while farmed salmon supply issues contributed to a 14% price rise across fresh and tinned fish.

However recent spates of hot weather saw sales of ice cream and cider increase by 12% and 16% respectively, even ahead of the recent heatwave.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: "The market's robust performance this period is partly down to particularly weak sales growth last year and a continuing increase in like-for-like grocery inflation, which is now running at 3.2%.

"At this rate, that's an extra £133 on the average household's annual shopping bill, or the equivalent of seven additional shopping trips a year."

Tesco enjoyed its fastest sales increase since April 2012 at 3.5%, attracting an extra 369,000 shoppers, although its market share is down 0.4 percentage points since June last year to 27.8%.

Morrisons achieved the strongest sales of the big four grocers, up 3.7% despite its market share slipping back by 0.2 percentage points to 10.6%, while Sainsbury's inccreased sales by 3.1% and Asda continued its recent recovery with sales up 2.2%.

Lidl pipped Aldi to the title of the UK's fastest growing supermarket for the first time since March, with sales growth of 18.8% just ahead of its rival's 18.7%.

Both retailers continue to gain market share, holding 5% and 6.9% respectively.

The Co-op's full two years of continuous growth saw sales up 2.2%, Iceland has now posted 15 periods of increasing sales and Waitrose had its best sales growth since March 2012, marginally ahead of the market at 5.3%, although its share has remained flat at 5.2%.

Meanwhile, figures from rival analysts Nielsen show shoppers spent 4% more on groceries over the four weeks to June 17 than the same period a year ago.

Tesco had the biggest increase among the big four, at 4.2%, while Iceland's 9% rise was the biggest of anyone outside the discounters.

Rising temperatures saw sales of soft drinks rise 9.1%, alcohol up 6.8% and ice creams soaring 24%, while g in saw a 35% increase, partly due to Father's Day.

Mike Watkins, Nielsen's UK head of retailer and business insight, said: "The early summer weather gave supermarkets a much-needed shot in the arm.

"All in all it's refreshing to have some good news around retailing. Looking ahead, a continuation in both the warm and dry weather and creeping inflation means growth should be maintained at around 3% for at least the next few weeks."