Strong Performances From Sainsburys, Waitrose & Discounters
The latest UK grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending 2 February 2014, show increased market share for Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and the discounters despite the overall grocery market growing at its slowest rate since 2005.
Fraser McKevitt, retail analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Grocery market growth slipped slightly to 2.4%, indicating that brighter economic prospects are yet to be seen in the nation’s shopping trolleys. The slowest industry growth since 2005 made it hard for many of the biggest retailers to increase sales. However, shoppers felt the benefit as grocery inflation fell to only 2.1%.”
Asda managed to grow, with sales up 0.5% compared with a year ago, but lost share after failing to match the 2.4% market growth. Tesco and Morrison also lost market share as a result of declining sales. As the UK’s biggest retailer, Tesco unsurprisingly reflected the slow overall market with sales down by 0.4% compared with the same period last year.
Fraser McKevitt continues: “Mike Coupe, who will be taking over from Sainsbury’s current CEO Justin King in July, will be inheriting the retailer in good shape as it continues to be the fastest growing of the big four – an unbroken run that stretches back nearly two years according to our reporting. Year-on-year growth of 2.7% was enough to boost Sainsbury’s market share to 17.1% from 17.0% a year ago.
“Double digit growth helped Aldi and Lidl to gain market share, as shopper habits evolve from using the so called ‘discounters’ to pick up a few items in between shops to them being considered an acceptable place for the weekly shopping trip. Aldi and Lidl together now account for 7.3% of sales, up 1.3% percentage points from last year. Waitrose sales were up 5.6% compared with a year ago and this helped it to grow its share of the market to 4.9%.”
Grocery inflation stands at 2.1% for the 12 week period ending 2 February 2014. This is at the lowest level since July 2010 and offers a small respite for hard-pressed household budgets.
