10th Feb 2015 10:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - German discounters Aldi and Lidl are still gaining market share from the UK's four big supermarket chains, but Tesco PLC and Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC have both managed to stem market share loss and falling sales, delivering their best performance in over a year, while J Sainsbury PLC and Asda Ltd are losing more ground, the latest industry data from Kantar Worldpanel suggested Tuesday.
The big four grocers - Tesco, Wal-Mart Stores Inc-owned Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons - again saw a decline in their share of the UK grocery market over the 12 weeks to February 1, when compared to a year earlier, the Kanatar data showed.
However, Tesco's sales in the 12 week period actually rose by 0.3% year-on-year, having returned to growth for the first time since January last year, although it continues to lose market share, down to 29.0% from 29.2% a year ago.
"Britain's largest retailer is bouncing back from a tough year, with Dave Lewis?s efforts to overhaul the supermarket attracting an additional 236,000 shoppers into its stores in the last 12 weeks," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.
In a tough grocery market, another good performance among the big four supermarkets was from Morrisons, whose sales fell by only 0.4%, its best performance December 2013. Its market share dipped to 11.1% from 11.3% a year earlier.
Sales at Sainsbury's fell by 1.0% over the 12 weeks, while its market share fell to 16.7% from 17.1% a year ago. Asda's share fell to 16.9% from 17.3%, as sales fell the most out of the 'Big Four', by 1.7%.
Last month, Kantar data published for the 12 weeks to January 4 showed that that UK's big four grocers has managed to slow the rate at which shoppers are defecting to German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
According to the latest data Tuesday, German discounters Aldi and Lidl experienced annual sales growth of 21.2% and 14.2%, respectively in the 12 weeks to February 1. Aldi's market share rose to 4.9%, from 4.1% a year earlier, while Lidl's share rose to 3.5%, from 3.1%.
"Early results suggest that discounters Aldi and Lidl will find their accelerated growth levels hard to match in 2015. Aldi?s growth of 21.2% is still impressive but a relative slowing from its 36% peak in April 2014. Likewise, Lidl?s maximum growth of 24% in May last year is now down to 14.2%," said McKevitt.
"Despite this slowdown, both retailers are still taking share from the other retailers," he added.
At the premium end of the market, Waitrose has supported growth with a greater focus on price and promotion, pushing sales up 7.2% in the 12 week period, taking its overall share to 5.2%.
Prices continued to fall across the sector, dropping 1.2% in the latest 12 weeks, marking a 17th consecutive drop, but sales volumes in the overall grocery market rose 1.1%, the fastest rate since June last year.
"Shoppers are taking advantage of both lower fuel prices and the continuing price war among the supermarkets to slightly increase their grocery spending," said McKevitt.
On the back of the latest Kantar data, Tesco shares were up 1.7% to 237.45 pence Tuesday mid-morning, while Morrisons was trading 4.6% higher at 186.10 pence. Sainsbury's shares were down 1.0% to 265.10 pence.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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