Shop price inflation spikes in January - BRC
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Tuesday 27 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - Shop price inflation spiked in January, industry research showed on Tuesday, confounding expectations for no change.
According to the latest BRC-NIQ shop price monitor, shop price inflation was 1.5%, up from 0.7% in December. Consensus had been for inflation to remain at 0.7%.
Prices rose across the board. Non-food inflation edged up 0.3%, in comparison to the previous month's 0.6% decline, while food inflation rose to 3.9% from 3.3%. Within that, fresh food inflation rose to 4.4% from 3.8%, while ambient food prices increased by 3.1%, compared to a 2.5% uplift in December.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, blamed the uplift on higher costs, including energy prices and National Insurance contributions, filtering down to prices.
She continued: "Meat, fish and fruit were particularly affected, also reflecting weak supply and stronger demand.
"It's a challenging time for households. Retailers do what they can to keep prices down in a competitive market, but thin margins and rising costs of government policy make it harder.
"Government must double down on costs in order to support households."
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said: "Shoppers are also cautious of spending in January and this will not be helped by continuation of inflation.
"However, there are still savings to be made at the checkout, as some non-food retailers are still on promotion and many food retailers continue to reduce prices on everyday items as a way to drive footfall."
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