Discounter Lidl has posted its biggest ever four-week market share gain in France, rising 0.7 percentage points to sit on 5.9%, according to the latest data from Kantar.
The data covers the P08 period, running from July 8 to August 4.
Commenting on Lidl’s performance, Kantar said that the discounter benefited from ‘fast-growing advertising investments’, seeing its footfall numbers rise by around 560,000, as well as increased spend per customer.
Market Leader
At the top of the index, E.Leclerc retains its number one position, sitting on 21.5% market share, while second-placed Carrefour holds 19.8% share.
In the same period last year, E.Leclerc’s lead over Carrefour was just 0.5 percentage points (20.8% to 20.3%).
E.Leclerc’s growth can be explained by a significant increase in customers during a period marked by the Tour de France, Kantar said, as well as an increase in its store base.
Intermarché has increased its market share by 0.1 percentage points year on year to sit in third position, on 14.9%.
Elsewhere, Système U posted a ‘stable’ performance over the period to hold 11.1% market share.
Groupe Casino is on 11.0% market share, while Auchan is on 10.4% market share and discounter Aldi holds 2.0% market share.
Commenting on the overall performance of the market, Kantar said that the growth of spending has been maintained during the summer of 2019, compared with a ’sharp acceleration’ of spending in the same period last year.
Online shopping continues to grow, it noted, rising 0.4% percentage points to 5.9% in the period. About 30% of households have used the Internet at least once for purchases over the last quarter.
Analyst Viewpoint
According to Bruno Monteyne of Bernstein Research, the data appears not all that positive for Carrefour, with its legacy formats, hypermarkets and supermarkets, ‘continuing to bleed share’.
‘This was the biggest share loss in Hypers in over a year and a material underperformance relative to the overall Hypers market (-25bps, i.e. Hypers ex. Carrefour gained share this period),’ Monteyne wrote in a briefing note.
‘Whether Carrefour's sizeable market share losses are self-inflicted through price investments or, worse, volume share losses we are all too familiar with, remains to be seen. Elsewhere, Carrefour's two growth channels performed better: Online gained +12bps share of the overall market, whilst Convenience gained +3bps.’
© 2019 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.
