Adding to the complexity, the Office for National Statistics has announced that from February 2026, it will use supermarket scanner data to calculate inflation. This new method is expected to lower the annual inflation rate by an average of 0.28 percentage points, covering 50% of the grocery market. Moreover, the data granularity will be greatly improved, with 1 billion commodity price points collected monthly. Although the inflation rate dropped to 2.6% in March, the Bank of England has warned that driven by rising energy bills and salaries, it may rebound to 3.7% by the end of the year.

These developments pose significant challenges to the UK retail industry. Retailers will have to find ways to cope with the rising costs and the changing market environment. As the situation unfolds, the future of the UK retail sector remains uncertain, and all eyes are on how retailers will navigate through these difficulties.