SHOPPERS SAVE £1.3 BILLION HUNTING OUT SUPERMARKET DEALS, FIGURES SHOW

Shoppers saved £1.3 billion – an average of £46 per household – by hunting out supermarket deals in the past month, new figures have shown.

Around three in ten or 29.3 per cent of items were bought through some sort of promotion, which has been primarily promoted through Supermarkets loyalty card schemes, such as Tesco's Clubcard and Sainsbury's Nectar card.

As the same time, most of the big supermarkets are running price promise schemes, which match the figures charged by the budget chains Aldi and Lidl.

The rise of promotional prices was instrumental in bringing down grocery price inflation from 4.5 per cent in March to 3.2 per cent in April.

The figures come from retail analysts Kantar, who said the rate of supermarket price growth has been falling for 14 months in a row.

A study published in December found people using loyalty cards on a trolley of 50 items made savings of around 29 per cent versus the normal prices.

The 50 items came in at £258.92 with Tesco, which came down to £184.05 - a saving of £74.87 or 29 per cent - with a Clubcard.

The total for Sainsbury's added up to £262.60 versus £186.95 with a Nectar card - a saving of £75.65 or 29 per cent.

Kantar pointed to this year's early Easter as a driver of record confectionery sales, as shoppers bought more than £100 million of sweets and chocolate in the seven days up to and including Easter Sunday.

The number of chocolate eggs sold in the period was 3 per cent higher this spring than last, with 37 per cent of consumers buying one during the week. Hot cross buns were even more popular, bought by 45 per cent of Britons.

Despite the emphasis on deals, the prices of sweets and chocolate were among the fastest risers in supermarket aisles, along with chilled fruit juices and drinks, researchers said.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel by Kantar, said: 'This emphasis on offers, coupled with falling prices in some categories like toilet tissues, butter and milk, has helped to bring the rate of grocery inflation down for shoppers at the till.'

Ocado, which has a partnership with Marks & Spencer, was the fastest-growing grocer, improving sales by 12.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to April 14.

Lidl was the fastest-growing supermarket, boosting sales by 9.1 per cent over the same period, handing it a total market share of 8 per cent.

Fellow discounter Aldi reclaimed the 10 per cent market share it last held in September 2023, increasing sales by 2.8 per cent.

Tesco and Sainsbury's improved sales by 6.8 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively while spending at Morrisons grew 3.8 per cent.

Waitrose and Iceland both saw sales growth of 3.7 per cent.

2024-04-23T23:50:49Z dg43tfdfdgfd