E-books, Ikea kitchen units and rum are in, but bubbly out of UK’s shopping basket

 
Kindle
12 March 2013

Kindles and other e-readers have been included in the nation’s official shopping basket for the first time.

But glasses of champagne sold at bars have been removed and replaced by supermarket sales of white rum as people tighten their belts by drinking more at home.

On the DIY front, the continuing impact of Ikea saw self-assembly kitchen wall units added while basin taps were removed.

The shopping basket, compiled by the Office for National Statistics, is the list of products used to measure changes in the cost of living to calculate inflation.

It is updated every year to ensure it accurately reflects the nation’s spending habits.

The ONS report said: “E-books represent a significant and growing market, with recent increases in the number of people reading books digitally.” The latest snapshot also shows a rise in the sale of sliced charcuterie meats — although horsemeat was not mentioned — and a drop in the sales of rotisserie chickens since they were hit with the 20 per cent VAT rate on hot food.

Britons are also munching their way through more packaged vegetables for stir-fries, blueberries, spreadable butter and hot chocolate, which were all added to the inflation basket.

In another sign of fast-paced technology change, Freeview set-top boxes are out, replaced in the basket by digital hard drive TV recorders.

But some purchases are become less technologically advanced — the charcoal barbecue has replaced the gas-fired barbecue in the index.

Packs of daily disposable contact lenses also entered the basket, replacing monthly soft contact lenses as short-sighted Britons switch over.

The Office for National Statistics has updated the list, which records what is happening to the prices of about 700 of Britons’ most common purchases, every year since 1947.

The past few years have seen apps, sparkling wine, high heels and hair conditioner joining the basket, while four-packs of lager, cigarettes from vending machines and pork shoulder joints fell out.

More than 180,000 individual prices are collected from 150 areas around the UK each month to calculate the rate of inflation and price the cost of living.

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