22nd Sep 2015 09:06
LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC was the only big four UK supermarket to increase sales in the past 12 weeks, for the second consecutive period, according to Kantar Worldpanel's grocery market survey published on Tuesday.
Sainsbury's sales rose 0.9% in the 12 weeks to September 13 to GBP4.01 billion from GBP3.97 billion in the same period a year earlier, as its market share stayed flat at 16.2%.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said that Sainsbury's attracted 250,000 new shoppers through its doors in the 12 weeks and managed to maintain its market share through the continued expansion of its Sainsbury's local outlets.
In second place was Tesco PLC, with an overall sales decline of 1% to GBP6.98 billion from GBP7.05 billion, despite increased revenue in the Express convenience stores business. Its market share fell to 28.2% from 28.8%.
In third place was Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, which experienced a 1.4% fall in sales to GBP2.64 billion from GBP2.68 billion. Its market share also slipped to 10.7% from 10.9%, and is likely to fall further in the coming months as the recently-announced store closures take effect, according to McKevitt.
The worst performer of the big four was Wal-Mart Stores Inc-owned Asda, whose sales decreased 2.9% to GBP4.12 billion from GBP4.25 billion, and its market share dropped to 16.7% from 17.3%.
Meanwhile, German discounters Aldi and Lidl once again demonstrated strong growth as their combined market share grew to 9.8% from 8.4%. Aldi's sales rose 17.3%, while Lidl's sales increased 16.0%.
Waitrose, the upmarket supermarket owned by the John Lewis Partnership, also performed well, with sales rising 2.9% and its market share improving to 5.2% from 5.1%, while Iceland Foods Ltd and The Co-operative Group saw their sales grow 3.4% and 1.0%, respectively.
Iceland's market share increased to 2.0% from 1.9%, and Co-op's market share remained flat at 6.4%.
Total grocery sales growth remained static at 0.9% year-on-year, the sixth consecutive month that sales among the grocers have grown by less than 1%.
?With shoppers moving their custom away from the traditional, larger-size supermarket stores, online sales are continuing to boom and are up by 12% compared with a year ago. Almost 7% of grocery sales are currently purchased through the internet and existing online supermarkets will be watching closely to see when Amazon Fresh will launch in the UK and whether it will steal market share or grow the online market even further,? McKevitt said.
UK grocery inflation now stands at negative 1.7% for the period, meaning shoppers are now paying less for a representative basket of groceries than they did in 2014. This is the same fall as reported last month, with lower prices reflecting the impact of discounters Aldi and Lidl as well as deflation in some major categories such as eggs, bread, butter and crisps, according to Kantar.
Shares in Sainsbury's were trading up 1.1% at 234.10 pence following the report Tuesday morning, reversing losses just prior. Tesco shares were trading down 0.8% at 175.15p and Morrisons shares were down 0.5% at 158.50p.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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