8th Apr 2015 12:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC has registered its first sales growth since August last year, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel UK grocery market data published on Wednesday, as Tesco PLC also increased its sales but the growth of discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to eat into both the sales and market share of the big four supermarkets.
Sainsbury's grew its sales by 0.2% in the 12 weeks to March 29 to GBP4.14 billion, up from GBP4.13 billion a year earlier. Its market share remains slightly lower year-on-year, down to 16.4% from 16.5%, but the rate at which it is losing market share slowed in the period, Kantar said.
Tesco sales rose 0.3% in the period to GBP7.19 billion from GBP7.17 billion a year earlier, and its market share is at 28.4%, again slightly lower year-on-year from 28.6% in 2014. But it marks a continued sales recovery for Britain's biggest retailer, which last month recorded its best UK sales performance for 18 months in the 12 weeks to March 1. Its market share, however, is still falling, with the 28.4% posted this month down from the 28.7% it recorded in the last Kantar figures.
Sales for Wal-Mart Stores Inc-owned Asda fell 1.1% in the period, down to GBP4.32 billion, and Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC sales also fell 0.7% to GBP2.76 billion. Asda's market share fell to 17.1% from 17.4% and Morrisons' market share was down to 10.9% from 11.1%.
Asda had been the most resilient of the big four to the challenge of the discounters until last month, when Kantar said its market share dropped to 17% from 17.5% a year earlier. Despite the drop in sales, its market share did increase this month compared to the Kantar numbers from the month before.
Both were hit by the continued growth of discounters Aldi and Lidl, with Aldi growing sales by 16.8% and Lidl growing its sales by 12.1%. The pair now have a 9% share of the UK grocery market, up from 5.4% in 2012, Kantar said.
Aldi, which increased its market share to 5.3% from 4.3% a year earlier has now overtaken upmarket grocer Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, to be the six-largest grocer in the UK by market share. Waitrose also saw sales rise in the period, up 2.9% to GBP1.29 billion. Its market share is up to 5.1% from 5.0% a year earlier, but fell compared to the previous month when it registered a market share of 5.2%.
All the UK's four biggest supermarkets have been under pressure as customers have changed their shopping habits. Discounters Aldi and Lidl, as well as Waitrose, have been growing at the expense of the big four.
The growth of all three, in particular the rapid rise of Aldi and Lidl, means the current combined 72.8% market share held by the big four retailers is the lowest level in a decade, according to Fraser McKevitt, the head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel. A year ago the same figure was 73.6%.
"Aldi has recorded double-digit sales growth for the past four years and is now Britain?s sixth largest supermarket with 5.3% of the market. Growth has been fuelled by over half a million new shoppers choosing to visit Aldi this year and average basket sizes increasing by 7%. The German discounter?s sales have increased by 16.8% in the latest period, still high compared to other retailers but slower relative to its recent performance," McKevitt added.
Grocery inflation has seen its 19th successive fall and is now at -2% for the 12-week period year-on-year, meaning shoppers are now paying less for a representative basket of groceries than they did in 2014. Kantar said the inflation level is a record low since it started recording grocery price inflation in 2006 and reflects the impact of Aldi and Lidl's discounting policies on the price competitiveness of the market.
Tesco shares were down 1.1% to 248.30 pence on Wednesday, while Sainsbury's shares were up 1.7% to 274.10p and Morrisons shares were up 0.8% to 199.83p.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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