Promotional activity for the World Cup had little impact on the Grocer Price Index in June with the average price falling by only 0.3%, says Michelle Perrett


World Cup fever (anyone remember that?) had the expected impact on alcohol prices during June, according to the Grocer Price Index.

Average alcohol prices fell by 1.3% in the big four supermarkets, while in Waitrose they were down 3.2%. Tesco was the largest discounter of the big four, with prices down 2.4%, and was followed by Asda, which was down 1.4%, Morrisons down 1.3% and Sainsbury's down 0.2%.

One might have expected promotional activity for the World Cup to have significantly pushed down the ­average basket price, but in fact it fell just 0.3%.

Tesco's prices were down 1% and Asda's were 0.5% lower in the four weeks to 29 June, while both Morrisons' and Sainsbury's prices rose by 0.2% apiece. Waitrose prices remained static.

Surprisingly, the biggest price falls came not in a World Cup-related category but in the baby sector, which was down 7.8% overall, driven by promotions at Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons. At Morrisons, prices were down 15.4%, at Tesco 9.3% and at Sainsbury's 8%.

Deep promotions on Pampers, in particular, contributed to the drop in average price. Sainsbury's was offering Pampers at a third off for June while Tesco and Morrisons were offering packs that had been £5.98 at £4.

Prices in the chilled category, however, rose by 2.9% driven by Tesco, which upped its prices 8.1%. According to Brand View, which composes the data for The Grocer Price Index, this was the result of a number of SKUs coming off promotion, in particular New Covent Garden Food Co soups.

Meat, fish and poultry prices were up 1.9% on average, Asda upping its prices 3.1% and Morrisons increasing its by 4% as a number of lines came off promotion.

Soft drink prices fell 0.5% in June, following two months of increases, with prices rising by 1.8% in April and 0.7% in May.

Retail prices in the biscuit, confectionery and snack categories fell 1.3%, while other products such as bakery, dry goods, health & beauty, dairy, deli products, frozen, fruit & vegetables, tobacco and household remained fairly stable this month.