Is it really all over for the supermarket own-brand range?

According to the latest grocery market figures, shoppers are turning their backs on ‘value’ goods. Is this the surest sign yet that the British economy has turned a corner and is finally in recovery, asks James Moore

Sales of branded goods are up 6.1 per cent, overtaking own-label items (PA)

This time last year, supermarket own-label goods were flying off the shelves. It was the height of the cost-of-living crisis, when food price rises peaked at a stomach turning 17.1 per cent. A visit to the supermarket often felt worse than a trip to the dentist for a painful procedure.

But, according to a telling statistic tucked away in the latest grocery market update from researcher Kantar, shoppers are tired of buying value ranges and are moving back to branded goods.

In the past four weeks, sales of branded goods have overtaken own-label items, with sales up by 6.1 per cent (compared to just 4.7 per cent for value ranges).

With wages rises now outstripping price rises, households are seeking out tastes they enjoy, rather than the cheaper ones they have to endure. I confess, I’m not immune. I’m a sucker for Heinz Oxtail Soup, especially when my kids have brought home the sort of bugs that scorch their way through schools in the winter. I can’t deny that it tastes much better than the watery own-brand I’ve been buying as an alternative.

But it is almost three times the price. When tempted, I find myself asking why the hell I’m allowing myself to feed a giant corporation’s rapacious hunger for profit. More fool me if I succumb.

Feeding into the “better times” narrative is the fact that Ocado recorded the fastest growth in the grocery sector, with a 9.5 per cent rise in sales. It is, obviously, easier to grow when you are small, and the online supermarket is starting from a relatively low base. But it has been aggressively offering vouchers to tempt shoppers – and the fact its sales lift has far outshone Aldi, the budget retailer that has long been hailed as a supermaket success story, is quite something.

Could these nuggets of encouraging data offer a scintilla of hope to the likes of Rishi Sunak and his embattled government? Up to a point, Lord Copper. Delve are little deeper and you’ll see a more mixed picture. Coming in second to Ocado was Aldi’s fellow discounter Lidl, which is much bigger than Ocado in the UK.

Nearly one in every four shoppers (23 per cent), meanwhile, described themselves as “struggling”, the same as in November. “Among those feeling most pressured, 78 per cent are actively buying cheaper groceries while 68 per cent are using promotions to help manage budgets,” said Kantar’s head of retail Fraser McKevitt. “Retailers appear to be responding in kind, with the emphasis on discounts and price match schemes continuing this period.”

McEvitt said £605m more was spent on deals this month than in March last year. This shouldn’t come as a great surprise. Food bills are much higher than they were a year ago. Remember too that prices are still rising. It is just the rate of increase that has slowed. We are still a long way removed from the days when Britain’s enjoyed an extended spell of falling food prices.

While brands have been clawing back some of the hold they have over us, it is also worth noting the surge in sales of premium own brand product. This category – which still tends to be cheaper than buying brands – saw a 16.1 per cent surge in sales.

Better times do appear to be here. Last year’s shallow recession looks to be over. Even Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, has said he thinks this is the case, although we don’t yet have confirmation.

But the pain from Britain’s recent economic woes still lingers and this data makes it all too clear that it has left a significant minority struggling just to put food on the table. For these people, even the (relatively) modest treat of a bowl of Heinz soup above the own-label alternative is a step too far.

Does that prick your conscience? It does mine. It is a problem I would like to see our politicians addressing. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt could start by stopping talking about how hard life is on a £100k salary…