Sales of own-name frozen food, canned and packaged grocery items and bakery products all increased, with volumes of own-label items rising by 3% compared with branded products, which declined by 2%.

Overall supermarket sales have improved slightly in the past month, rising by 1%, following a slump in spring and early summer, according to the data.

The latest figures show an improvement on July, when grocery sales fell by -0.5% in July, but sales are still down on the same period in 2018, which saw a +4.2% uplift in grocery sales.

Mike Watkins, UK head of retailer and business insight at Nielsen, said: “We’re starting to see shopping behaviour return to normal with the increase in own label purchasing given their lower price points, whereas last year shoppers bought more branded products thanks to heavy promotions tied to the big event of summer 2018.”

Data is from Nielsen Homescan Total Till, a continuous panel of 14,500 GB households.

Kantar’s latest grocery market share figures, also published this week, show year-on-year supermarket sales were flat during the 12 weeks to 11th August.