Our shopping habits are changing: A 10 year trip down high-street history

The ONS has updated the basket of goods it uses to calculate price inflation . Every month, 180,000 local prices are collected on a basket of 700 items. This is done to identify if prices are rising or falling. A quick look at the changes gives a good insight into our changing shopping habits.

Items entering the basket this year include non-dairy milk, cycle helmets and jigsaws for adults.

Items leaving the basket this year include mobile phones (replaced with smartphones) and menthol cigarettes.

Commenting on the basket of goods and price inflation, Alistair McQueen, Head of Savings & Retirement at Aviva, said:

“Looking back over the past decade is like a trip down memory lane. Technology has been a big driver of recent changes – gone are VHS recorders and 35mm cameras, arriving are computer game downloads and music streaming services.

“Our shopping habits are always changing, as are the prices of the underlying goods. Inflation however has been a forgotten concept for some time. It has been beneath the government’s target of 2% since December 2013. But times are changing, and price rises are on their way back.

“Price inflation (CPI) is back at 1.8% and is expected to breach 2% this year. This will have implications for our shopping budgets and potentially for interest rates, and people are worried.

“Aviva’s recent Family Finance report identified rising prices and unexpected expenses as the joint top threats to people’s standards of living. Careful money management will help people navigate these choppy waters.”