Discounters Aldi and Lidl were the best performing supermarkets in the 12 weeks to 25 December, new data from Kantar has shown, with Aldi seeing its sales rise by 27.0% in the period, and Lidl's sales growing by 23.9%.
The sales growth in the period puts Aldi on a market share of 9.1% (compared to 7.7% in the same period last year), while Lidl's share has grown to 7.2% (from 6.3% last year).
Overall, take-home grocery sales hit £12.8 billion (€14.54 billion) in the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, the first time the £12 billion (€13.59 billion) mark has been breached, with inflation a core driver of increased sales – inflation in December stood at 14.4%.
Grocery Price Inflation
“Monthly grocery sales were a whopping £1.1 billion (€1.25 billion) higher in December versus last year, breaching the £12 billion mark for the first time," commented Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
"Value sales are up significantly but grocery price inflation is the real driving factor behind this rather than increased purchasing. If we look at the amount people bought this period, sales measured by volume are actually down by 1% year-on-year, showing the challenges shoppers are facing."
Strong Performers
The period was also a buoyant one for traditional grocers, with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons accounting for more than two thirds of all spending in the 12-week period, Kantar said.
Asda saw sales up by 6.4%, closely followed by Sainsbury’s and Tesco, which achieved sales growth of 6.2% and 6.0% respectively. Morrisons reported a 2.9% decrease in sales, however it was still the grocer's best performance since June 2021, Kantar said.
Private-label sales rose by 13.3%, compared to a 4.7% increase in branded lines.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
