Grocery price inflation has fallen below 10% for the first time since July 2022 thanks to declines in a "limited number of major categories".

According to market research group Kantar, annual UK grocery inflation was 9.7% during the four weeks October 29, down from 11% in last month's report.

Kantar provides the most up-to-date snapshot of UK grocery inflation. Latest official data from the Office for National Statistics showed annual food inflation was 12.1% in September, though prices did fall on the month for the first time in two years.

“Grocery price inflation has finally dropped into single digits after 16 months of double digit growth, marking a big milestone for the British public and retailers," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insights at Kantar.

READ MORE: Food prices fall for first time in more than two years

"While the drop to 9.7% is positive news and something of a watershed, consumers will still be feeling the pinch. We’re only seeing year on year price falls in a limited number of major categories including butter, dried pasta and milk.”

Prices are rising fastest for goods such as eggs, sugar, confectionery, and frozen potato products.

Meanwhile, consumer spending on promotions has hit 27.2% of total grocery sales – the highest level since Christmas 2022. Mr McKevitt described this as "a big gear shift" from October 2022 when that figure was less than a quarter.
 
“It’s now been over a year and a half of pinched pockets and people are continuing to respond by trading down on the items they’re putting into their baskets," he said. "Own label lines have grown ahead of their branded counterparts every month since February 2022, with the latest four weeks showing a sales boost of 8.0% for these lines. 

"However, the picture may well change as we go headlong into the festive period, when shoppers typically turn more to brands. The gap between own label and branded goods is at its narrowest since spring last year. Branded sales increased by 6.7% in the latest month, raising the distinct possibility that they will push ahead by Christmas.”

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Mr McKevitt added that traditional shopping demographics and stereotypes have been thrown out of the window with 54% of Aldi and Lidl’s sales coming from the more affluent ‘ABC1’ social group – close to the national average of 55%.
 
Lidl was again the fastest growing retailer with sales during the 12 weeks up by 14.7% and share up by 0.4 percentage points to 7.6%.

Fellow discounter Aldi sat beside Waitrose as one of only two grocers to increase its number of shoppers year on year, attracting 207,000 more customers than last year.  Aldi and Waitrose grew sales by 13.2% and 5.4% respectively to take 9.7% and 4.6% of the market.
 
Sainsbury’s was the fastest growing traditional supermarket this month, with sales up 10.1% over the 12 weeks to October 29 compared to last year. Growing ahead of the market, the retailer now holds 15.2% share, up from 14.9% last year.

READ MORE: Higher food prices 'baked in' as shoppers seek inflationary relief

Tesco, the UK's largest grocery chain, gained share for the fourth consecutive month to take 27.4% of the market, an increase of 0.4 percentage points versus a year ago. Year-on-year sales growth reached 9.5%. 
 
Morrisons remained in growth mode for the seventh month running, with sales in the latest period up by 3.2%. It now holds 8.6% of the market and Asda stands at 13.6%.

Co-op’s sales grew by 5.2%, the fastest rate since March 2021. Its market share stands at 6.0%, though in baskets that are less than £20 this figure jumps considerably to 16.9%. 
 
Iceland accounts for 2.1% of the market as sales increased by 2.6% during the 12 weeks. Online-only grocer Ocado’s market share rose to 1.7%, while its year-on-year sales were up by 12.6%.