Harvir Dhillon
@harvirdhillon.bsky.social
310 followers 130 following 420 posts
Economist at ‪the British Retail Consortium‬ 🛍️ UK macro, retail and #costofliving 📈👨🏽‍💻🇬🇧 Opinions my own etc Formerly Experian Leicestershire, United Kingdom 🦊
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Small online sellers, however, are still a tiny market:
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Brits are buying a lot more electrical appliances (replacement cycle) as well as from e-commerce platforms. Independent food shops are also growing more than supermarkets, despite inflation.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Full report is available here ⤵️
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
The direction of travel will depend on the Chancellor’s choices: a supportive Budget could help bring relief to households, while extra business costs risk prolonging the squeeze.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
However, further tax rises, especially on consumer-facing businesses, could keep #inflation stubbornly high, with food inflation potentially staying above 5% well into next year.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
⚖️ Moving forward, all eyes are on the Autumn #Budget (26th November). If no new business taxes are introduced, shop price inflation is expected to plateau and gradually ease into 2026, as global commodity prices settle and supply chains stabilise.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
🌐 FAO Food Price Index is up 6.9% year-on-year, with meat, sugar, and vegetable oils leading. Dairy prices fell month-on-month but remain 16% higher than last year. Oil markets remain sensitive to global supply and demand shifts.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
🌍 Global commodity prices edged up, with metals and select food items seeing sharp rises. Oil prices fell slightly, averaging $67.46/barrel, and natural gas prices continued to drop. Global food commodity prices remain volatile. ⛽🌾
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
🏷️ Non-food deflation narrowed to -0.1% (from -0.8% in August). DIY, gardening, and hardware saw price rises, while electricals, clothing, and home entertainment remained in deflation. Promotions continue to drive down prices in some sub-categories.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
🍏 Food inflation held steady at 4.2%, unchanged from August, but still above the 3-month average. Fresh food inflation remained at 4.1%, while ambient food stayed at 4.2%. Dairy and beef prices remain high, but wholesale dairy costs are now falling notably. 🥛🥩
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Headline shop price inflation rose to 1.4% year-on-year, up from 0.9% in August (the highest since February 2024). Month-on-month, prices increased by 0.2%. 📊
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
🛍️📈 Highest shop price inflation in 18 months

Today we published the latest @britishretail.bsky.social – NIQ Shop Price Monitor, covering September 2025.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
I had maintenance grants when I did my course from 2014-17. Even still I'll never pay off the debt (absent a windfall or much higher-paying job), although do intend to pay off PGL (much lower principal). It's a waiting game for when the write-off comes, which is fortunately only 30 years for me.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Food inflation hit 5.1%, which is the highest since January 2024. I'm expecting this to head towards the 6% mark by year-end. Other retail categories remain subdued with e.g. clothing and footwear prices flat vs a year ago.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Inflation largely unchanged, last month. Services inflation ticked down to 4.7%, but goods inflation reached its highest since October 2023.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Yes 100%. Stealth taxes eventually become really obvious in the most ludicrous of ways.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
The UK aggregate numbers are a bit hard to square with a declining number of payrolled employees (SA). In Aug we had ~127k fewer employees than a year ago... ~-130k if we look at the comparable June figure. The increase is also mainly coming from employee jobs, not self-employed.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
But inflation means that real wage growth is definitely taking a battering, and we're now back to the rather slow growth witnessed in the middle of 2023.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
The number of retail jobs continues to fall according to the Workforce Jobs dataset, and on the four-quarter average measure, we're at 2.78 million, close to 100k fewer jobs than a year ago. That seemingly contrasts with the UK overall where there are 276k more jobs.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
But inflation means that real wage growth is definitely taking a battering, and we're now back to the rather slow growth witnessed in the middle of 2023.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
Regular pay growth did ease off in the most recent period, but we're seeing the first acceleration (on 3-month average measure) in median earnings (PAYE dataset) since the start of the year.
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
📆 Looking ahead, food inflation could climb further, potentially reaching 6% by year-end if wholesale pressures persist. Non-food should stay more subdued, but the broader return of retail inflation is firmly in play. ⚖️
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
💷 Real wages are still positive, but rising housing, utility and grocery costs are placing pressure on discretionary incomes. Shoppers are leaning heavily on loyalty schemes, promotions, and value ranges to make their £ go further. 🛒
harvirdhillon.bsky.social
🌍 Commodity markets remain volatile, although eased this month. Coffee and cocoa prices remain historically high, and oil-based goods continue to face inflationary pressure. Global oil prices fell somewhat in addition to natural gas.