Yahoo Finance Christmas dinner on the back burner as food costs soar
Shoppers are waiting longer before stocking up on Christmas food as grocery prices surge to a fresh 14-year high, adding £682 to the average annual supermarket bill.
The number of people who had bought their Christmas pudding by the end of October was down by a third on last year, new figures from Kantar show.
The drop, equal to around 700,000 UK households, suggests families are delaying spending money on Christmas as food prices and energy bills rise.
Kantar's Fraser McKevitt that "people are not trying to spread the cost of their purchasing – at least not in October".
Fewer households also bought pumpkins last month compared to last year, Kantar said.
It comes as shoppers were forced to fork out more on supermarket staples with grocery price inflation hitting a fresh 14-year high of 14.7pc for the four weeks to the end of October. This compares to 13.9pc in September.
Mr McKevitt said it was "too early right now to call the top".
The rise means households' average grocery bill is now set to come in £682 more this year than last, with a quarter of households surveyed by Kantar saying they are struggling financially.
Mr McKevitt said: "Nine in ten of this group say higher food and drink prices are a major concern, second only to energy bills, so it’s clear just how much grocery inflation is hitting people’s wallets and adding to their domestic worries.”
More shoppers are turning to cheaper discounters in an attempt to get more for their money, with Aldi once again proving to be the fastest growing retailer in the 12 weeks to October 30.
Its sales were up 22.7pc on last year. Lidl, meanwhile, saw sales swell by 21.5pc. Together, the pair now hold around 16pc of the market share, compared to 4.4pc during the 2008 financial crash.
Kantar said the trend among shoppers to buy more own-brand items was also accelerating, with sales of the cheapest ranges up 42pc.
Sales of branded goods, meanwhile, was up just 0.4pc, after many of the leading brands sought to pass on major price increases to cope with their own steeper costs.
It has prompted tensions between supermarkets and brands, with a row over how much prices could rise earlier this year leading Heinz to pull its products from Tesco. Tesco has since gone from charging 85p for a can of baked beans at the end of 2021 to £1.20 currently.
