5th Apr 2016 07:36
LONDON (Alliance News) - An early Easter and "Britain's love of all things sweet" contributed to the fastest sales growth in UK grocery sales in the year so far, according to the latest grocery data released by Kantar Worldpanel.
Total UK grocery sales for the 12 weeks to March 27 grew by 1.1% year-on-year, which Kantar said was the fastest growth the sector has seen all year. Head of Retail and Consumer Insight Fraser McKevitt said an early Easter gave the market a sales boost of GBP152 million, adding 0.6% to the overall growth rate.
"Britain's love of all things sweet was in evidence, with 63% of households buying at least one chocolate egg during March, spending an average of GBP12 over the month. Over half of the population bought hot cross buns, while 15% purchased a fresh leg of lamb for their Easter celebrations," McKevitt said.
Of the big four supermarkets, J Sainsbury PLC continued to beat its rivals in the race to achieve sales growth, after Tesco PLC, Asda Ltd and Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC all saw sales fall once again.
Sainsbury's sales grew by 1.2% in the 12 weeks year-on-year, as its market share remained flat at 16.4%. Kantar noted that spend on deals at the supermarket chain which require consumers to buy two or more items together fell by 73%, with shoppers instead purchasing a price-cut promotion or paying full price.
Tesco sales fell by 0.2% as its market share declined to 28.1% from 28.4%, although the sales decline eased for the fourth month in a row. "A small increase in shopper numbers suggests Tesco could return to growth in the next few months; welcome news after 12 months in decline," McKevitt said.
Morrisons sales decreased by 2.4%, also an improvement on last month, and its market share slipped to 10.5% from 10.9%.
Asda performed the worst of the big four, with sales dropping by 3.9% and market share falling to 16.2% from 17.1%.
Meanwhile, discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to perform strongly with sales at Aldi rising by 14% and sales at Lidl growing by 18%. The combined market share of both grew to 10.4% from 9.0%.
Upmarket grocer Waitrose also saw its sales rise by 1.7%, while The Co-operative achieved sales growth of 3.9%, its fastest growth since acquiring Somerfield in 2011.
Grocery deflation now stands at 1.5%, meaning shoppers are now paying less for a representative basket of groceries than they did in 2015. This is the 20th consecutive period of grocery price deflation, with falling prices reflecting the impact of Aldi and Lidl and the market's competitive response, as well as deflation in some major categories such as butter, fresh sausages and crisps, Kantar said.
Shares in Sainsbury's were trading up 0.1% at 277.20 pence on Tuesday morning, while Tesco shares were down 2.2% at 186.70p and Morrisons shares were down 0.8% at 199.60p.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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