Inflation isn’t killing food retail. But prices peaking this year might prove to be the bigger challenge. J Sainsbury Plc on Wednesday confirmed that the food retailers were the big winners this Christmas, with third quarter same-store sales excluding fuel up 5.9%. They enjoyed a boost from the World Cup and then a run into the holidays whereby consumers were more likely to eat at home given the cost-of-living crisis and rail strikes. But they were also helped by rising food prices. Sainsbury said inflation in its shopping basket was running well below the 14.4% reported by data provider Kantar for December, as it concentrated on keeping prices low for customers. Even so, making everything from coffee to cereals more expensive inflates the value of supermarkets’ same-store sales.
