Nearly 10,000 products have seen price rises in leading supermarket chains after Christmas as shoppers are feeling the pinch on their household incomes, new figures have revealed.
In total, 9,763 products were subject to price rises across major retailers between 26 December and 6 January, with Asda responsible for the largest proportion of increases, according to data from retail analytics company Assosia.
Producing data for The Grocer, Assosia said that normally shoppers could expect to see around 5,000 price increases in January, but this volume of products is “unusually large” for this time of year.
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Additionally, the analytics company noted that January 2022 was also an outlier, with approximately 9,100 products going up in price this time last year.
Big 4 grocer Asda has increased prices on 2,470 products – the largest out of all UK supermarkets – which is equivalent to 11% of its entire range.
However, it lowered the prices of 734 products, according to the data, meaning overall 1,736 items are now more expensive than before.
Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, lowered prices on the least amount of items with 741 products, just 3% of its entire range. Ocado came in second, who were followed by Sainsbury’s.
Asda said in a statement that it is “consistently named the lowest-priced traditional supermarket in independent price comparison surveys carried out by Which? and The Grocer.”
The supermarket added: “There are a number of reasons why grocery prices vary over time and during this period we also reduced prices on thousands of products.”
The news comes as Asda has shrunk its gender pay gap, as female staff are reportedly taking more senior roles at the company – according to gender pay figures published last week.
