Convenience fruit and salad sales have spiked as consumers celebrate warm spring while inflation of 4.1 per cent is ‘new territory’ for 2025
Prepared salad and fruit sales have surged at the major retailers in the last four weeks thanks to a warmer than average start to spring.
Prepared salads rose by 19 per cent, while prepared fruit sales increased by 22 per cent during the four weeks to 18 May, according to the latest grocery retail figures from Kantar.
Barbecues were fired up earlier than usual leading to a spike in sales for popular sides like potato salad and coleslaw, as well as chilled meat products.
Take-home grocery sales grew by 4.4 per cent over the period compared with last year, while grocery price inflation saw a marked rise to 4.1 per cent, the highest level since February 2024. Prices are rising fastest in chocolate, suncare, butters and spreads and are falling fastest in pet food and household paper products.
“This latest jump in grocery price inflation takes us into new territory for 2025,” said Fraser McKevitt, Kantar’shead of retail and consumer insight.
“Households have been adapting their buying habits to manage budgets for some time, but we typically see changes in behaviour once inflation tips beyond the three to four per cent point as people notice the impact on their wallets more.
”Own label lines are ones to watch, with premium own label, in particular, being the fastest growing part of the market since September 2023,” he added.
Health and lifestyle are key consumer trends driving sales at the start of the summer season, according to Kantar.
“It seems that consumers are shaping their diets around their lifestyle choices, with health, wellbeing and exercise apparently top of many people’s minds,” said McKevitt, who said sports nutrition products have been the biggest winners. “Volume sales of cottage cheese, flatbreads and fresh prepared fruit have all been growing strongly too, up by 30, 29 and 22 per cent in each case,” McKevitt said.
Ocado maintains momentum
Ocado marks a full year as Britain’s fastest growing grocer, having held the position since June 2024. Over the 12 weeks to 18 May 2025, sales at the online retailer climbed by 14.9 per cent
It was also a strong period for the discounters, as Lidl reached a new share high of 8.1 per cent with sales up by 10.9 per cent and Aldi’s share reached a record high at 11.1 per cent with sales rising by 6.7 per cent, its fastest growth rate since the start of last year.
The legacy supermarkets also saw sales rise over the period, including Tesco (+5.9 per cent), Sainsbury’s (+4.7 per cent) and Morrisons (+1.1 per cent). Asda saw sales fall by 3.2 per cent in the last 12 weeks.
The two retailers grappling with high-profile cyber incidents – Co-op and M&S – coped despite the disruption, with sales rising by 0.6 per cent at Co-op and by 12.3 per cent at M&S.
