Each additional 1% on the rate of inflation could add more than £50 to the annual supermarket bill for the average household, it warned. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: “Financial anxiety among British consumers was already running high before the conflict began. Online only retailer Ocado grew even faster, with sales rising by 12.3% and now accounting for 2.2% of the market. Asda held 11.6% of the market with sales down 0.9%, although this marked its best performance since April 2024. Higher average spending per trip drove a 5.8% sales growth at Waitrose, its fastest rate of growth in five years.

Source: The Times March 31, 2026 13:39 UTC