Retailers keep prices low despite mounting cost pressures
Period Covered: 01 – 07 July 2026
- Shop price inflation decreased to 0.9% year on year in July, against growth of 1.2% in June. This is below the 3-month average of 1.1%.
- Non-Food inflation decreased to 0.2% year on year in July, against growth of 0.6% in June. This is below the 3-month average of 0.4%.
- Food inflation decreased to 2.2% year on year in July, against growth of 2.4% in June. This is below the 3-month average of 2.4%.
- Fresh Food inflation increased to 3.1% year on year in July, against growth of 2.8% in June. This is in line with the 3-month average of 3.1%.
- Ambient Food inflation decreased to 1.1% year on year in July, against growth of 1.9% in June. This is below the 3-month average of 1.6%.
| Overall SPM | Food | Non-Food | ||||
| % Change | On last year | On last month | On last year | On last month | On last year | On last month |
| Jul-26 | 0.9 | -0.1 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | -0.3 |
| Jun-26 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
Note: Month-on-month % change refers to changes in the level of prices.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “Good news for households in July as shop price inflation slowed. Retailers competed hard to limit prices rises, with a wave of summer promotions across food and other goods. Shoppers benefited from deals on snacks and alcoholic drinks during the football World Cup, while clothing and footwear retailers offered significant discounts as they started clearing summer stock. Some categories, including electricals and health & beauty, saw higher inflation as rising chip prices and manufacturing costs fed through.
“While today’s figures are encouraging, growing cost pressures remain on the horizon. Higher employment costs and packaging taxes, global instability and climate-related disruption all make it more expensive to get products onto shelves. The best way to keep the cost of living down is to keep the cost of doing business down. Cutting unnecessary taxes and levies on energy bills would help retailers keep prices low, invest locally and support jobs in every town and city.”
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight, NIQ, said: “Shop Price inflation remains lower than a year ago, which will help shoppers as they manage other increases in household spend, such as energy and fuel. So, we can expect promotions to continue to be an important part of driving demand for the rest of the summer.”