UK: Aldi and Lidl grow at fastest rate since 2015

The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks ending 21 May 2017, reveal that inflation continues to rise – up 2.9% during the past 12 weeks – contributing to another period of growth for the grocery market. Overall sales grew by 3.8% year on year, the market’s best performance since September 2013.

Chris Hayward, consumer specialist at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “The big four have collectively grown by 1.6% overall, while Aldi and Lidl together grew at their fastest rate since January 2015. With sales up 19.2% year on year, the pair achieved a record market share of 12.0%. 62% of the UK population shopped in an Aldi or Lidl during the past 12 weeks, compared to just 58% this time last year – that’s an additional 1.1 million households visiting either of these stores.

“Consumers are starting to feel the pinch as prices continue to rise, with the average household spending an additional £27 on groceries during the past 12 weeks. That may not seem like much, but if inflation continues at its current rate over the course of a year that would mean an extra £119 spent on groceries per household.”

Chris Hayward continues: “Once again all ten grocers have seen sales increase, no doubt boosted by higher prices as inflation continues. Own label is also a major source of growth for all of the retailers, with sales up an impressive 6.0% year on year in contrast to branded products which grew by just 0.6% during the same period. More broadly, a drive for health – perhaps after the excesses of Easter, when the nation consumed £325 million worth of Easter eggs – has helped boost performance, with volume sales of mineral water up 7.4%, eggs up by 5.1%, fresh produce up 2.1% and sugar down 5.6% year on year as shoppers filled their baskets with healthier options.

“Tesco has increased sales by 1.8% year on year, attracting over 250,000 additional shoppers during the past 12 weeks. Helped by promotions on barbecue foods as the weather gets warmer, sales of fresh meat grew well ahead of the market at 4.3% vs. 0.9% overall. With support from the Food Love Stories campaign encouraging the Great British public to cook more from scratch, fresh produce also performed particularly well for the retailer.

“Asda has also increased shopper numbers by over 360,000 in the past 12 weeks. In particular, the retailer has taken advantage of own label’s growing popularity with consumers – its recently revamped ‘Farm Stores’ line helped increase sales of the grocer’s cheapest private label tier by over 20% year on year. More than 9.2 million households bought Asda value own label products during the past 12 weeks: one million more than last year.

“Morrisons once again saw the best performance of the big four supermarkets, while also celebrating six consecutive periods of sales growth. Its premium own label range ‘The Best’ has been key to the retailer’s success, with sales up by over a third on last year as nearly 800,000 additional shoppers chose products from the line during the past 12 weeks. Co-op’s growth of 1.5% was driven in part by strong premium own label growth – sales of its ‘Irresistible’ range were up 33.7% year on year. The grocer also enjoyed its 25th consecutive period of overall sales growth, although its market share dipped by 0.2 percentage points.”

Sales increased by 1.7% year on year for Sainsbury’s, fuelled by a strong performance both online and for the retailer’s Local convenience stores. Waitrose saw sales up 3.3% year on year, although its market share slipped slightly to 5.2%.

Growing well ahead of the market, Iceland increased sales by 8.6%, attracting 380,000 more shoppers and boosting its market share by 0.1 percentage points to 2.2%. Ocado held share steady at 1.3%, with sales growth of 9.4%.