They may be about to join together in a historic merger, but there were markedly different performances recorded by UK retailers Sainsbury’s and Asda in the latest round of Kantar Worldpanel market share figures.
According to data for the 12-week period to 17 June 2018, Asda posted a 1.8% sales increase, to continue a run of growth that has now lasted 16 months.
The Walmart-owned retailer now sits on 15.1% market share.
In contrast, Sainsbury’s sales fell by 0.2%, with its market share dropping by 40 basis points, to 15.6%.
Market leader Tesco saw sales go up by 1.4% in the period, with the strongest performance recorded in the group’s Express convenience stores. Overall, however, Tesco’s market share decreased to 27.7%, from 27.9% a year ago.
The strongest performer in the Big Four was Morrisons, which posted a sales increase of 1.9%, to sit on 10.6% market share.
“Consumers have responded very well to Morrisons’ wonky fruit and vegetable lines – these have more than tripled in sales and now feature in 12% of baskets, helping the retailer’s cheapest tier of own-label products grow by a remarkable 18%,” commented Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.
Discounter Performance
Discounter Lidl posted an impressive 10.0% sales growth, to sit on 5.4% market share, while Aldi posted growth of 8.2% to consolidate its position as the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket, with 7.4% market share.
“Lidl’s 10.0% sales growth makes it the only bricks-and-mortar retailer to experience double-digital growth,” said McKevitt.
“Its growing range of branded goods will play a role here – they’re already up 33% in sales and should help attract an increasingly diverse range of customers through the door. Yet, while Lidl is the champion in terms of growth this period, it is Aldi that has edged up to a new record high market share – it now stands at 7.4%, thanks to sales growth of 8.2%,” he added.
Elsewhere, the Co-op recorded its strongest growth in over a year, as sales grew by 2.4% and its market share grew by 0.1 percentage point, to 6.2%. Frozen-food retailer Iceland has held its share in the market, of 2.2%, as sales grew by 2.5%.
Sustained Growth
Kantar Worldpanel also said that the UK market has now seen two years of continuous growth.
Supermarket sales have risen for 25 consecutive periods and now stand at 2.1%, compared with this time last year, with a decline last recorded in June 2016.
“After a couple of difficult years for the supermarkets, this sustained period of growth is welcome news,” McKevitt said.
“The latest figures largely pre-date the soaring temperatures and new-found optimism for England’s World Cup chances, but with the nation spending over half a billion more in supermarkets this period compared with last year, it suggests that summer has already arrived for many,” he added.
Commenting on the Kantar Worldpanel figures, AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said, “The widely followed figures on the groceries sector from Kantar make grim reading for investors in Sainsbury’s, helping to account for the slide in the share price today.
“The disappointing performance helps underpin the argument for Sainsbury’s tie-up with Asda, which itself delivered a much better showing in the period. The heads of Asda and Sainsbury’s were forced to defend the prospective deal in front of MPs last week, and getting regulatory approval for the merger is unlikely to be a straightforward process.”
© 2018 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.
