BRC: Shop Price Index Still Inching Up

British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen data shows that shop price inflation increased by 0.4% in January (year-on-year), compared with 0.3% in December (year-on-year).

Non-food prices declined by 0.3% and food prices increased by 1.5%. Fresh food prices experienced a 1.2% rise compared with 0.9% in December while ambient food goods rose by 1.9%, showing slower growth compared with December's 2.3% figure.

Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive, British Retail Consortium: 

“Despite significant post-Christmas discounting, shop prices in January were slightly up on last year. Promotions have become the norm in recent years, but it was never going to be possible to continue making seasonal price cuts deeper each year; especially given that the cost of importing many of the goods we buy increased with the post-referendum fall in the pound. Consumers have little to fear in terms of inflation over the coming months with many of the underlying pressures on prices easing. That is unless the UK leaves the EU without a deal on the 29th March, leading to increases in the price of many goods in the weekly shopping basket.” 

Mike Watkins, Head of Retailer and Business Insight, Nielsen: 

“With shoppers looking to make savings on household bills and sentiment on the turn, it's good news that shop price inflation is broadly unchanged this month. Intense price competition between food retailers at the start of the year is protecting customers from rising prices and there is no inflationary pressure coming from the high street as retailers, faced with weak demand, continue to absorb the impact of any rising costs themselves. The retail outlook is for low growth over the next couple of months and for shop price inflation to remain at around current levels, and less than CPI.”

The BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index (SPI) is a monthly measure of UK shop price inflation and measures changes in the price of 500 of the most commonly bought items. The SPI demonstrates the extent to which retailers contribute to inflation through the pricing of commonly bought goods. The SPI is administered by Nielsen, who collate the data on behalf of the BRC. The BRC provide analysis and wider commentary on retail-specific and economy-wide inflation.

Source : BRC

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