11th Dec 2018 08:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Kantar Worldpanel on Tuesday said that the UK grocery market is growing at its slowest rate since March 2017, and Black Friday had little impact on supermarkets.
The research agency, however, said that Christmas spending in the UK is still expected to break records, with overall sales in December anticipated to reach GBP10 billion.
"The last time Christmas Day fell on a Tuesday was in 2012 and the Saturday before was the busiest shopping day of the year. We expect the same trend to hold true this year, with Saturday December 22 pulling in the last-minute Christmas crowds," Kantar Head of Retail & Consumer Insight Fraser McKevitt said.
Kantar said discounters continued to perform well, with both Aldi and Lidl recording double-digit growth in the 12 weeks to December 2.
"Boosted by a number of store openings in November, Aldi maintained its position as the fastest-growing supermarket and saw its market share rise by 0.7 percentage point to 7.6%. Lidl's market share also jumped – up 0.5 percentage point to 5.6% – with sales of the supermarket's premium Deluxe line experiencing particularly strong growth of 24%," McKevitt said.
Co-op was the only other food retailer to win market share in the 12-week period, with sales up by 4.5%. The retailer snared an extra 0.2% of the market, taking its total share to 6.2%.
Tesco PLC recorded a sales drop of 0.1% in the period, and J Sainsbury PLC posted a 0.2% drop in sales. Tesco's market share declined to 27.6% from 28.2%, while Sainsbury's market share was down by 0.4 percentage point to 16.0%.
Asda, which is in the process of merging with Sainsbury's, held market share at 15.0% in the 12 week period. Sales at the grocer were up 1.5%.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC sales increased 0.5% in the 12 weeks, marking two years of continual growth. Market share slipped to 10.5% from 10.6%.
Online retailer Ocado Group PLC recorded sales growth of 3.4% and its market share remained steady at 1.1%.
Waitrose sales fell by 0.7% in the period. Market share of the John Lewis Partnership-owned supermarket chain edged down to 4.9% from 5.0%.
UK grocery price inflation for the period was 1.6%, Kantar said, with prices rising since the start of 2017. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as cola, sparkling wine and dog food, while falling in fresh pork, ambient cooking sauces and fruit, it added.
Tesco shares were trading 0.9% lower early Tuesday, while Sainsbury's shares were down 0.7%. Morrisons and Ocado were down 1.4% and 0.1%, respectively.
Related Shares:
TescoOcadoMRW.LSainsbury's