February 28th, 2023, Hoang Nguyen
While inflationary pressures seem to be easing and consumer confidence in the UK saw a slight uptick in December, most Brits continue to feel the impact of cost-of-living increases.
A new YouGov poll from the start of this year indicates that people are still noticing rising prices across several categories.
Chief among these categories are grocery prices, with nine in 10 British consumers (90%) noticing an increase in grocery costs within the past few months. The data reflects the findings from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which reports that fresh food prices were 15% higher than a year earlier.
Energy costs, especially those related to households, have also soared over the last year. Consumer prices measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) shows that between January 2022 and January 2023, domestic gas prices increased by 129% and domestic electricity prices by 67%. It’s in the latter category that 85% of Brits say they noticed an increase in prices, second-most among those categories surveyed.
Fuel for cars and other vehicles ranks as the third highest category where consumers still note an increase in prices (58%). Roughly a half of British consumers also say they noticed an increase in other significant spending categories such as clothing (55%), health/pharmaceutical items (47%), and housing costs (46%).
Many consumers also indicate they are noticing price increases in several forms of entertainment, including out of home leisure such as cinema or concerts (43%), media streaming services (42%), consumer electronics (33%) and video games (14%).
Travelers’ future plans may also be impacted by rising cost of living. Over a third (34%) of British consumers say they’re noticing an increase in hotel prices. Nonetheless, the latest data from YouGov Travel Profiles reveals that demand for travel is at its highest since the start of the pandemic, with 74% of UK consumers intending to go on a domestic or international holiday in the next 12 months.
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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash