9th Feb 2016 08:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC continued its trend of being the only one of the UK big four supermarkets to achieve sales growth in the latest figures released by Kantar Worldpanel on Tuesday, as sales increased for the sixth period in a row.
Sainsbury's sales for the 12 weeks ended January 31 grew 0.6% year-on-year to GBP4.58 billion from GBP4.55 billion, as its market share rose slightly to 16.8% from 16.7%.
Tesco PLC came in second place, with sales falling 1.6% to GBP7.76 billion from GBP7.89 billion, which Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel said was the best figure the retailer has posted since September last year. Tesco's market share slipped to 28.5% from 29.0%.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC's was next, as its sales fell 2.2% to GBP2.95 billion from GBP3.02 billion, with its market share falling to 10.8% from 11.1%. McKevitt said Morrisons' sales will continue to reflect its disposal of 140 M Local stores and the closure of some larger outlets through the rest of 2016.
But the worst performer was Asda, owned by US giant Wal-Mart Stores, which saw its sales drop 3.8% to GBP4.41 billion from GBP4.59 billion, as its market share decreased to 16.2% from 16.9%.
Meanwhile, German discount grocers Aldi and Lidl continued to perform strongly, increasing their combined market share to 9.8% from 8.4%, although this was a slight dip on the 10.0% they enjoyed at the end of 2015. Aldi's sales rose 14% while Lidl's sales grew 19%.
Total sales for the UK grocery market were up 0.2% in the period, an improvement on the 0.2% decline reported in the prior 12-week period.
Grocery deflation now stands at 1.6%, meaning shoppers are now paying less for a representative basket of groceries than they did in 2015. This is the 18th consecutive period of grocery price deflation, McKevitt said, 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 crisps, eggs and butter.
Shares in Tesco were trading up 1.3% at 174.75 pence on Tuesday morning, as Sainsbury's shares were up 0.9% at 245.10p and shares in Morrisons were down 0.6% at 172.70p.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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