UK shoppers are on the hunt for bargains as rising prices continue to put pressure on household budgets, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said.
Results from the latest BRC-Nielsen Shop price Index, released this morning, show food inflation increased to 5.7 per cent last month, up from 4.9 per cent in May.
Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said families were putting more emphasis on finding special offers in a bid to ease the pressure.
He said: "Headline food inflation is up, but 39 per cent of grocery spending is going on promoted goods, showing there are lots of offers available and savvy shoppers are taking advantage to minimise the impact on real-life bills."
Non-food inflation however remains "very low" according to the BRC, as shops push discounts in order to encourage spending at the expense of margins. In June, it rose to 1.3 per cent, up from 0.8 per cent in May.
The BRC said companies would need to continue to manage cost price increases carefully over the coming six months in order to attract shoppers with a limited discretionary spend.
