Aldi’s and Lidl’s sales continue to grow in UK – Kantar

Waitrose, the upmarket supermarket owned by the John Lewis Partnership, also performed well, with sales rising 3.7% to GBP1.26 billion and its market share improving to 5.1% from 4.9%. Sainsbury’s market share fell to 16.3% from 16.4% but sales rose 0.1% to GBP4.06 billion, according to Kantar, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the United Kingdom. Tesco holds 28.8% of the market but its sales have fallen by 0.9%.

Sainsbury’s was the only one of the “Big Four” supermarkets to see an increase in sales during the 12 week period.

Rumours of Asda’s decline – at their height a week ago when it posted its worst quarterly sales performance since being taken over by the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart – may have been overcooked, as it regained its position as the UK second largest supermarket chain in terms of market share.

The Kantar report said buoyant growth in Tesco’s convenience stores and online had not been enough to offset lower revenues.

McKevitt says that industry growth of around or below 1% has now persisted since summer 2014 and has become the new normal.

Shares in Sainsbury’s were trading up 1.5% at 235.30 pence Tuesday morning, while Tesco shares were trading up 2.2% at 185.10p and Morrisons shares were up 1.3% at 165.90p.

“Asda’s greater focus on non-food items means its market share is traditionally higher in the summer, and it’s expected that Sainsbury’s will again become the number two retailer towards Christmas”, said McKevitt.

For the second month in a row there is also growth at the Co-operative, with sales at the till up by 1.1% compared to previous year, according to the grocery share.

Thanks to recent efforts to create a more premium image for frozen food, as well as new store openings including its Food Warehouse format, Iceland is attracting more shoppers through the door than previous year.

William Morrison Supermarkets was in third place, with a sales decline of 1.1 per cent and a slip in its market share to 10.8 per cent from 11.0 per cent.

Aldi and Lidl’s combined market share rose to 9.7% in the 12 weeks ended August 16, compared with 8.4% in the year earlier period.