The government uses a "basket of goods approach" that allows for substitutions and is averaged out over multiple grocery stores.
As someone pointed to in this thread, half of the inflation is attributed to profit increases for the grocer. Thus, it stands to reason that groceries that aren't packing on the profits would see lower price increases. So where you're shopping matters a lot.
I am completely disinterested in the "record profits" narrative, of course if the base cost goes up, and margin % stays the same you will have "record profits"
This is an emotional argument targeted the same crowd (63% of the US Population by recent survey) that believes stimulus checks should be used to fight inflation
I want to see what the profit margin % is, not what the raw profit is. I have yet to see anyone show a "record increase in profit margin" only headlines in currency not percentage
This is showing extreme business ignorance, I am not sure about Tesco, or UK grocers, but in the US the average margin is around 3%, this is one of if not the lowest margin industries. Keeping that margin at 3%, even if raw profits increase is a responsible business model, margin that low can put businesses in terrible places when recessions hit.
To believe grocers to stick to a raw profit number, and not look at margin at all is ridiculous and irresponsible to not only the shareholders of the company but the employee's and customers as well
Your advice is what leads to store closings and food deserts
Society won't gain much if a grocer keeps a steady 3% margin over base cost while capturing the increase in price instead of distributing it as part of salaries as well, don't you agree?
The record profit in figure is important when compared to employees' salaries, if those aren't increasing in proportion (as part of the cost) then the grocer owners are just increasing their wealth while impoverishing their own employees.
Well there are a few factors here, some percentage of the inflation is infact increase wages for workers at the grocer, this is what is keeping the margin the same. Here for example the 2 largest grocers are Kroger and Walmart, both have increased their wages several dollars per hour since 2019.
Further I hear all the time about "food deserts" and what not, The increase raw profit could be used for many things including expanding into those area's and could even make them profitable to service.
Finally they can use the money to expanding their technology, for example Kroger has invested heavily and made many awesome customer service enchantments to their mobile app, web site, and curb side pickup services (I know this because I am a weekly user of the app)
All 3 of these things I consider to be good for society
As someone pointed to in this thread, half of the inflation is attributed to profit increases for the grocer. Thus, it stands to reason that groceries that aren't packing on the profits would see lower price increases. So where you're shopping matters a lot.