British consumer spend on groceries rose by almost nine per cent year on year despite food price inflation remaining at a near-record high of over 19 per cent, new research has found.

Barclays latest spending report evaluated millions of customer transactions to assess current spending behaviours in the UK.

The rise in grocery spending was impacted by the Coronation bank holiday weekend and Eurovision, Barclays said, even though 88 per cent of respondents expressed ongoing concerns around rising food prices.

The trend of ‘shrinkflation’ – wherein a product remains the same price or even costs more than it once did despite being sold in smaller package sizes – was cited as a concern by 83 per cent.

Barclays research also found that 63 per cent of consumers were looking for ways to combat continued food price inflation, with 41 per cent using vouchers and loyalty points to get money off and 27 per cent reporting buying more frozen food to limit wastage.

The spending report also revealed that consumer card spending only grew by 3.6 per cent in May, less than the Consumer Prices Index of 7.8 per cent and the April figure of 4.3 per cent – which Barclays attributed to reduced spend on discretionary items in light of continued food inflation.

“The prices of core services and goods remain stubbornly high and continue to constrain real household disposable income and spending,” said Silvia Ardagna, head of European economic research at Barclays.

Share Story: