BRC Shop Price Index YoY

The BRC Shop Price Index YoY (year-on-year change against the same month a year earlier) tracks shop goods inflation (price rises) in the United Kingdom. It is published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and compiled by NIQ (NielsenIQ) on its behalf.

It tracks 500 commonly bought goods in stores and online, with around 6500-7000 prices from the same stores, monthly since 2005. It reports year-on-year and month-on-month (change against prior month) rates. It is a proxy gauge for shop goods only, excluding services and household costs, unlike CPI and RPI, which also cover services.

Prices are collected during the opening days of each reference month in the same sampled stores for consistency. Each report covers that reference month and appears around the turn of the month, a few weeks after collection, about 10 days before official statistics. Publication is embargoed until 00:01 on publication day, with media copies sent under embargo at 8:45am the prior day. Each release gives year-on-year and month-on-month rates, 3-month averages, Food and Non-Food splits, commentary, summary, tables and methods, with no stated revision policy.

7 purchase sectors drive it, with food and non-food lines often pulling apart as seasonal discounting shifts monthly results.

• Fresh Food: perishable grocery items, including fish, dairy and produce.
• Ambient Food: packaged and processed grocery items, including ready meals and coffee.
• Clothing & Footwear: apparel and shoe lines that react to seasonal discounting.
• Furniture, Floorcovering & Electricals: furniture, flooring and electrical lines, with furniture and flooring reacting to seasonal discounting.
• DIY / Gardening & Hardware: DIY, gardening and hardware store goods.
• Books, Stationery, Home Entertainment, Health & Beauty & Other Non-Food: other non-food lines including books, stationery, home entertainment and health and beauty goods.

The April 2023 release (embargoed to May 2, 2023) showed parts pulling against the headline. Overall annual inflation was 8.8%, down from 8.9% and above the 3-month average of 8.7%, with prices up 0.2% on the month. Food reached 15.7% from 15.0%, with Fresh Food at 17.8% from 17.0% and Ambient Food at 12.9% from 12.4%, each a record for its line.

Non-Food eased to 5.5% from 5.9%, below its 3-month average of 5.6%. It fell 0.1% on the month on Spring discounting in clothing, footwear, furniture and flooring. The release named dearer ready meals and coffee, while butter and vegetable oils started to fall as savings were passed on.

1. Collect: Take around 6500-7000 prices for 500 items in the same 5 urban areas and mixed store types during opening days of each reference month.
2. Mirror shoppers: Choose branded and own-label mixes and price spreads that match standard buying patterns.
3. Weight and aggregate: Group prices into product classes and sectors. Weight each class by All-households spending in the Family Expenditure Survey, the source that also weights the RPI, with no numeric weights disclosed.
4. Publish levels: Print index levels (numeric gauge values) for Overall, Food, Fresh, Ambient, Non-Food and categories.
5. Report change: Show % change against the same month a year earlier and against the prior month, alongside 3-month, 6-month and 12-month averages. No base year is stated.
6. Example: With assumed 60% and 40% weights and points 102 and 105 (up 2.0% and 5.0%), the index is 103.2 and YoY is 3.2%. Moves keep normal seasonal swings like Spring discounting, as no seasonal adjustment is described.