Grocery sales in May have “bounced back into growth”, driven by consumer confidence from warmer weather and the UK emerging from recession.

Latest figures from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG reveal that over the three months to May, food sales rose 3.6%, compared to a growth of 9.5% last year. This places May below the 12-month average growth of 6.4%.

IGD CEO Sarah Bradbury said: “Shopper confidence remained relatively stable this month as shoppers continue to be divided in their spending habits.

“Glimpses of the warmer weather and confirmation that the UK is no longer in a recession, combined with inflation falling to its lowest level in three years may have contributed to the 3-point up-tick in shopper confidence compared to April last year.

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“We can see that shopper confidence, overall, is continuing with a marginally positive outlook. Grocery sales in May bounced back into growth following April’s decline, although it must be remembered with Easter falling in March this year, comparisons for April were always going to struggle.

Bradbury added: “Although, sales in May were back into year-on-year growth, the rate of growth is beginning to slow down as inflation continues its path back to normality. Further encouraging signs for the grocery sector include an increase in volumes during May; an improvement from last year.”