Report

Nine out of 10 consumers expect food prices to rise in the year ahead and 29% intend to swap to discounters, new research has revealed.

The IGD ShopperTrack, commissioned recently by the research group, also found that 16% intend to use more frozen food specialists.

The news that more people intend to shop at discount retailers comes just after Lidl revealed plans to expand its own in-store bakeries (ISBs). The German retailer, with over 580 stores in the UK, has completed stage one of the project, installing ISBs in 75 stores in its north east sales region, bringing its total number of outlets with ISBs in the UK to 90.

Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, commenting on the research, said: "The vast majority of shoppers believe that food inflation is set to increase over the next 12 months. They are not taking it lying down and are prepared to sacrifice some of their time by shopping around at different retail formats, from discounters to frozen food stores, to get the best deals."

The IGD study also found that shoppers with secondary school children are more likely to increase their use of grocery discounters; 39% of shoppers with children aged 11-18 vs 27% of those without children expect to increase their use of grocery discounters over the next year.