UK shoppers spent £13.7bn on groceries in run-up to Christmas

Consumers buy more items – including plenty of parsnips and sprouts – to beat last year’s spend by 7%

UK shoppers spent £13.7bn on groceries in the run-up to Christmas – 7% more than a year before – as they sought out bargains and switched to discounters to try to offset price inflation.

The number of items bought rose by 2% in December as prices climbed by 6.7%, according to analysts at Kantar. Prices for sweets, eggs and frozen potato products rose fastest but prices fell for dairy items, including butter, milk and cream.