Data from Kantar shows price inflation on barbecue essentials remains high despite supermarket price cuts on everyday products.
Barbecue prices rose during the 12 weeks to 14th May, but Kantar believes that shoppers are as keen as ever to make the most of the warm weather.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Volume sales of ice cream and mineral water were up by 25% and 8% respectively last month. However, the increased cost of staying cool will have come as a shock for many, with like for like prices on ice cream up 20% and mineral water up 17%. The barbecue spread has equally been hit. Fresh sausage prices have risen by 16% while fresh burgers increased by 13%, showing how grocery price inflation is continuing to hurt consumers at the till.”
Shopping habits are changing to align with how consumers are choosing to cook their food at home, according to the report.
Fraser McKevitt continued: “People are thinking more and more about what they eat and how they cook as the cost of living 'crisis' takes its toll on traditional behaviours. The most prominent change we’ve seen is that people are preparing simpler dishes with fewer ingredients.
"Our data shows that the public are turning away from their oven and increasingly using microwaves, which reflects the shift to simpler cooking. There were 4% fewer meals made using an oven according to our most recent 12-week data compared to the same period last year, while microwaved meals rose by 8%. We also saw a reduction in hob use and a rise in food prepared with toasters and grills.”
Supermarket sales
Aldi is currently the fastest growing retailer with a rise of 24.6% in sales, pushing it to a record market share of 10.2%. Lidl remains close behind with sales increasing by 23.2%, giving it 7.7% of the market.
Morrisons' sales rose by 0.8% this period and its market share is at 8.8%, while Sainsbury’s and Asda’s sales both grew at 10% over the past 12 weeks. They now account for 14.9% and 13.7% of total sales respectively.
Tesco sales increased by 8.9% and it achieved a 27.1% market share.
Co-op’s sales rose by 3.8% giving it a 5.8% market share. Following a 3.3% rise in sales, Waitrose now holds 4.5% of the market, leading Iceland and Ocado on 2.3% and 1.7% respectively.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
