Take-home grocery sales grew by 4.4 per cent over the four weeks to 18 May compared with last year, exhibiting anew territory for 2025 where health, wellbeing and exercise are apparently on top of many people’s minds, according to new figures from Kantar released today (May 28).
In the same period, grocery price inflation also saw a marked rise to 4.1 per cent, the highest level since February 2024.
According to Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, this latest jump in grocery price inflation takes us into new territory for 2025.
"Households have been adapting their buying habits to manage budgets for some time, but we typically see changes in behaviour once inflation tips beyond the three to four per cent point as people notice the impact on their wallets more.
"Own label lines are ones to watch, with premium own label, in particular, being the fastest growing part of the market since September 2023."
As consumers feel the pinch, many are continuing to seek out promotions to get the best value.
Fraser McKevitt continues, “The growth of spending on deals has carried on this month, increasing by 5.1 per cent versus May last year. Trimming prices remains the most popular way for retailers to draw in customers, with 80 per cent of promotional spending this period down to straightforward price cuts.”
There were reasons to be cheerful, as Britons enjoyed the hottest ever start to May.
Fraser McKevitt says: “We’ve been firing up the barbecues a bit earlier than last year, with chilled burgers flying off the shelves and sales growing by 27 per cent.
"Shoppers didn’t forget the all-important sides, as sales of potato salad rocketed by 32 per cent and coleslaw and prepared salads by 19 per cent each. As the mercury rose, sun cream sales also shot up by 36 per cent as Brits made the most of the spring sun.”
With the mid-year point approaching, Kantar has been investigating what’s been trending in supermarket baskets.
Fraser McKevitt comments: “It seems that consumers are shaping their diets around their lifestyle choices, with health, wellbeing and exercise apparently top of many people’s minds.
"Sports nutrition products have been the biggest winners. The number of these products bought has surged by 45 per cent over the past five months versus the same time in 2024. Volume sales of cottage cheese, flatbreads and fresh prepared fruit have all been growing strongly too, up by 30 per cent, 29 per cent and 22 per cent in each case.”
Ocado marks a full year as Britain’s fastest growing grocer, having held the position since June 2024. Over the 12 weeks to 18 May 2025, sales at the online retailer climbed by 14.9 per cent.
It was a strong period for the discounters too, which achieved their strongest combined growth since January 2024 at 8.4 per cent. Lidl reached a new share high of 8.1 per cent with sales up by 10.9 per cent.
Compared with the same period last year, it brought 419,000 extra shoppers through its doors – the most of any retailer. Aldi’s hold of the market reached a record high at 11.1 per cent with sales rising by 6.7 per cent, its fastest growth rate since the start of last year.
Tesco boosted sales by 5.9 per cent to increase its share by 0.4 percentage points. Britain’s largest grocer now has 28.0 per cent of the market. Sales growth at Sainsbury’s accelerated by 4.7 per cent giving it a 15.1 per cent share.
Sales at Morrisons nudged up by 1.1 per cent and it now holds 8.4 per cent of the market. After Asda’s best performance since May last year, its share stands at 12.1 per cent. Waitrose maintained a 4.6 per cent share as sales grew by 4.0 per cent.
Spending through the tills at Iceland went up by 1.9 per cent, bringing the frozen food specialist’s portion of the market to 2.2 per cent.
The industry has been grappling with high-profile cybersecurity incidents of late. Despite these, spending on groceries at M&S rose by 12.3 per cent. Convenience retailer Co-op also faced challenges, but still increased sales by 0.6 per cent to take 5.3 per cent of the market while symbols and independents reporting a 3.3 per cent rise in market share.
