The cost of living squeeze was in evidence too, with supermarket price inflation of 3.8% for the latest four-week period
Supermarket shopping habits moved back towards pre-pandemic patterns in recent weeks, with footfall increasing and less buying in bulk.
According to fresh grocery industry till data from Kantar, grocery sales fell by 3.8% over the 12 weeks to 23 January compared to the same time last year, when England was in lockdown for much of the time.
What’s more, vestiges of the pandemic remain, with sales 8% higher than the same period in pre-pandemic 2020 and while online grocery orders were down 15% on a year ago, they accounted for 12.5% of all grocery spend during the latest period, which is almost double the pre-pandemic proportion.
The squeeze on households’ cost of living was in evidence too, with supermarket price inflation of 3.8% for the latest four-week period, a 0.3 percentage point rise from December.
Only three retailers grew sales compared to the lockdown-affected period a year ago, Ocado Retail, Lidl and Aldi – but Kantar noted that every single grocer has boosted sales over the last two years.
Ocado Retail, the joint venture between Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) and Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS), grew sales 2.3% over the past 12 weeks, with its market share at 1.8% but rising to 3.4% in London.
Of the other FTSE 100-listed grocers, Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) saw sales drop 1.9%, better than the market as a whole, while J Sainsbury PLC lost market share, with sales dropping 4.8%.
The biggest sales declines were at Morrisons, down 8.5%; Co-op, down 7.8%; and Iceland, down 7.2%.
Read More: Ocado Group PLC and Tesco PLC gain market share as (most) supermarket