Consumers are now paying a record £571 more on average for their groceries than last year as discounter Aldi became Britain’s fourth largest supermarket for the first time, figures show. Grocery price inflation hit 12.4% during the past month, up from last month’s previous record of 11.6%, research firm Kantar reported.
The latest figure means that the average annual grocery bill will increase from £4,610 to £5,181 if consumers do not change the products they buy and how they shop to cut costs. Categories like milk, butter and dog food are rising particularly quickly, at 31%, 25% and 29% respectively.
However shoppers are taking steps to manage their budgets by broadening the range of stores they visit, with Aldi’s market share rising by 1.2 percentage points to make it Britain’s fourth largest supermarket for the first time. The German discounter’s sales rose by 18.7% over the 12 weeks to September 4, reaching 9.3% market share, while fellow discounter Lidl increased its sales by 20.9% and its market share to 7.1%.
