Food price concerns at highest level for three years amongst shoppers

IGD’s latest ShopperVista data shows over a third (34%) of shoppers are expecting to be worse off in a years’ time with food prices (94%) and energy bills (86%) shoppers’ main worries. Food price concerns are at the highest level for three years with more shoppers worried about food prices now than during the height of the cost-of-living challenges (94% in Apr ’26 vs 91% in Jan ’23).

With prices rising beyond just food and grocery, shoppers will have to closely monitor their outgoings across the board. This could mean a drop off in discretionary spending across food and grocery.

Recent volatility in the Middle East has intensified pressure on global supply chains, driving spikes in oil prices which is impacting the cost of fuel, energy and food inflation. As a result, concern about fuel prices has risen sharply, with over a quarter more shoppers worried in April, compared with in January (68% in Apr vs 41% in Jan).

Although signs of easing conflict provided a modest lift to overall sentiment in April, shopper confidence remained negative at -1 but this is not felt evenly across the income groups. Higher income shoppers are feeling much more confident (average confidence score of 28) than their lower income peers (average confidence score of -11) with the gap between the groups widening as the impact of rising petrol prices hits some harder than others. London continues to be an anomaly with confidence substantially higher than elsewhere in the country (average confidence score of 32).

Bryony Perkins, Senior Insight analyst at IGD, said:

“Shoppers are likely to remain cautious in the months ahead, delaying discretionary spend until the geopolitical outlook becomes clearer. Heightened sensitivity to price increases will continue to shape purchasing decisions and prompt down trading and value-seeking behaviour.”

Despite rising costs, more shoppers are looking to eat clean. The biggest shifts year-on-year come from shoppers focusing on increasing fibre (12%) and eating more natural, healthy foods (15%). As a fifth of shoppers avoid foods they deem to be unhealthy (up 4% year-on-year), innovation for manufacturers and retailers should focus on areas shoppers are prioritising, to win over those who are trying to eat healthier.

More shoppers this year are claiming to rarely eat anything unhealthy, reflecting the rise in clean eating and the overall movement towards healthier diets (15% in Apr’26 vs 11% in Apr’25). This is also likely to be an indirect benefit to shoppers’ budgets as they cut back on discretionary spending, including treats. Importantly, however, there is often a gap between what people say and do and shoppers are likely to still buy treats on impulse in certain scenarios.

 

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