17th Nov 2015 08:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - For the fourth consecutive period, J Sainsbury PLC was the only big four UK supermarket to increase sales in the past 12 weeks, according to Kantar Worldpanel's grocery market survey published on Tuesday, while overtaking Wal-Mart Stores Inc-owned Asda to take second place in terms of market share.
Sainsbury's sales rose 1.5% in the 12 weeks to November 8 to GBP4.14 billion from GBP4.08 billion in the same period a year earlier, as its market share increased to 16.6% from 16.4%, which Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel said was the first share gain registered by any of the big four since October 2014.
"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. The food-focused retailer traditionally increases its market share over Christmas, so we can expect to see it keep hold of second place for the time being," McKevitt said.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC came in second place among the big four with a sales decline of 1.7% to GBP2.71 billion from GBP2.76 billion, as its market share fell to 10.8% from 11.1%, while Tesco PLC, saw its sales decrease by 2.5% to GBP6.97 billion from GBP7.14 billion, as its market share fell to 27.9% from 28.7%.
Once again the worst performer of the big four was Asda, whose sales declined 3.5% in the period, while its market share fell to 16.4% from 17.1%, dropping it behind Sainsbury's.
"With a raft of recent announcements including a range reduction and increasing click-and-collect opportunities in its stores, Asda will be looking to improve upon its decline of 3.5% in the coming weeks," McKevitt said.
Meanwhile, German discount grocers Aldi and Lidl continued to perform well, reaching a combined market share of 10% for the first time. Aldi's sales rose 16.5%, while Lidl's sales grew by 19.0%.
"If you look back as recently as 2012 Aldi and Lidl only held a 5% share of the market, and it had previously taken them nine years to double their combined share from 2.5%. In the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while average spend per trip has increased by 4% to GBP18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average. 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," McKevitt added.
Waitrose, the upmarket supermarket owned by the John Lewis Partnership, also performed well, with sales rising 2.7% as its market share increased to 5.2% from 5.1%, while The Co-operative Group saw its sales grow 1.5%. Co-op's market share rose to 6.3% from 6.2%.
Overall supermarket sales grew 0.5% year-on-year, held back by persistently falling prices which remained down 1.7% on a like-for-like basis.
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, crisps and fresh poultry, according to Kantar.
Shares in Sainsbury's were trading up 2.4% at 249.00 pence following the report Tuesday morning. Tesco shares were up 2.8% at 170.85p, while Morrisons shares were up 0.8% at 154.90p.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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