Lidl and Aldi snap up 10% of supermarket spend, Kantar says

Figures released by consumer research firm Kantar Worldpanel show that in the 12 weeks up to November 8, Lidl increased its market share to 4.4%, while Aldi managed to maintain 5.6% of the market for the fifth month running.

McKevitt said: “Sainsbury’s performance means it has once again regained its position as Britain’s second-largest supermarket, pushing ahead of Asda in the latest 12 weeks”.

Commenting on the results, Sophie McCarthy, Consultant at Conlumino said, “Out of the Big Four Asda is arguably the most exposed to the rise of German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, and to the general merchandisers, such as B&M and Poundland, as its value-led customer has been tempted away by even lower prices elsewhere”.

Both German stores have also managed double digit sales growth, Lidl up by 19%, and Aldi by 16.5%.

Mr McKevitt added: “The discounters show no sign of stopping and with plans to open hundreds of stores between them, they’ll noticeably widen their reach to the British population”. None have suffered quite so much as Asda though, where revenues slipped 3.5% – watch out for a trading update from its parent company Walmart later today to see if its own figures look any less dire. Among its London-listed peers, Tesco was trading 3.34 percent up at 171.78p, while Morrisons was just 0.38 percent better off at 154.10p.

At the same time, Kantar said sales fell at Tesco, Morrisons and Asda – with market leader Tesco enduring a 2.5% decline.

The overall supermarket sector, however, remains weak. The Co-operative’s market share gain of 0.1 percentage points to 6.3% is its first year-on-year share gain since 2011, when the benefits of the Somerfield acquisition were still being felt.

As a food-focused retailer, Sainsbury’s traditionally increases its market share over Christmas, so could increase its share further by the end of the year.

Sainsbury’s was the only one of the “big four” supermarket chains to increase sales and market share.

By contrast, discounters Lidl and Aldi continue to enjoy strong sales growth and eat into the established players’ dominance. Sales at Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc dropped 1.7 percent, Kantar said.