Spending on discounts rises four per cent as Brits do Valentine’s Day on a budget

Consumers’ spending on offers increased by four per cent in February, worth £586m more than the same month in 2023, as Brits continued to seek out discounts despite cooling inflation. 

According to a report by Kantar, grocery inflation or the rate at which prices rise slowed to 5.3 per cent for the four weeks to February 18th. This is the lowest rate since March 2022

Following on from Dry January, which saw consumers ditch the booze,  shoppers appeared to be a bit more indulgent. 

Total alcohol sales jumped up by 18 per cent in volume terms versus the previous month, with consumers buying 28 per cent more wine and 16 per cent more beer and lager. 

Red wine was particularly popular, with eight million more bottles bought this month than in January. 

The run-up to Valentine’s Day also saw steak and boxed chocolate sales shoot up by 12 per cent and 16 per cent compared with last year.  

Some £36m was also spent on dine-in meal deals costing £10 or more in the week leading up to 14th February. 

Tom Steel, strategic insight director at Kantar, said:  “This figure is slightly down on 2023 when spend hit £43m  but that’s because consumers chose to make more savings this year through price cuts.  

“Sales of chilled ready meals and desserts on promotion did particularly well this year.”

In terms of retailers’ performances, Sainsbury’s and Tesco increased their share of the market by 0.4 and 0.3 percentage points respectively.  

Sainsbury’s now holds a 15.6 per cent market share, with sales up 7.6 per cent.  Tesco’s sales grew by 6.2 per cent, pushing Britain’s largest grocer to a 27.6 per cent share of the market.

Waitrose increased sales by 3.8 per cent accounting for a 4.6 per cent share.  Morrisons’ share now stands at 8.8 per cent, with sales up by 3.1 per cent compared to last year. 

Asda, which is on track to open its 1,000th store as part of its continued expansion into the convenience sector, saw sales increase by 1.9 per cent. It now has a share of 13.8 per cent.

Steel added: “Though there’s been lots of discussion about the impact the Red Sea shipping crisis might have on the cost of goods, supermarkets have been pulling out all the stops to keep prices down and help people manage their budgets. 

“This month, Morrison’s became the latest retailer to launch a price match scheme with Aldi and Lidl, after Asda made the move in January.  More generally, we saw promotions accelerate this month after a post-Christmas slowdown.”

He added: “Sainsbury’s and Iceland’s efforts paid off in particular, and they were the only retailers to attract more shoppers through their doors.”