British shop prices rose 2.1% year on year in October, the fastest increase since February 2024, the British Retail Consortium said, warning that shops can no longer absorb the wave of rising costs.
British shop prices were 2.1% higher in October than a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday, the biggest annual increase since February 2024 and up from 1.4% in September. The figures are based on prices collected between October 1 and 7.
Food price inflation rose to 2.9% in October, its highest since April and up from 2.5% in September. Ambient food inflation climbed to 3.2%, its highest since September 2025, while fresh food inflation was unchanged at 2.6%. Non-food inflation rose to 1.7% from 0.8%, its highest since December 2023, with particularly sharp rises for furniture, flooring and home improvement goods.
The dam is starting to break on the huge wave of costs retailers have absorbed over the last two years, BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said. She called on finance minister John Healey to lower retailers' property taxes and employment costs in his first annual budget on Wednesday.
The figures come from the BRC's own monthly shop price index as reported by Reuters, and the breakdown across food and non-food categories is consistent across the syndicated coverage. The consortium attributed the pressure to higher transport and energy costs, as well as increases in employment costs and packaging levies.
The shop price data sits alongside a wider inflation picture. Official consumer price inflation, which covers a broader range of goods and services, rose to an 11-month high of 3.5% in September from 3.1% in August. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said this month that businesses had so far largely absorbed higher energy costs caused by the US-Iran war, unlike after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The immediate question is the budget. The Food and Drink Federation now expects food price inflation to peak next year rather than sooner, so households may face several more months of rising shelf prices before any relief arrives, and Healey's decisions on business taxes will shape how much of the current cost wave reaches shoppers.