Nielsen has released UK supermarket sales data for the four weeks to 16 July, which indicate that the value of sales was down 2.4% compared to the same period a year ago - the worst four-week performance since July 2014.
The week ending 2 July was the worst performing in the period, posting a 5.5% decline in the value of sales since last year, Nielsen said.
“With falling spend per visit, supermarkets are becoming more reliant on attracting new shoppers and encouraging loyalty from repeat visits in order to maintain sales momentum," said Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight. "At the moment, big but short-term events such as Euro 2016 and the upcoming Rio Olympics, are not enough to drive topline sales.”
In terms of market share performance, all the Big Four supermarket groups saw a decline in value sales compared to last year, in the 12 week period to 16 July. Tesco, which holds 27.8% market share, saw its sales down 1.0%, while there were also falls in sales for Sainsbury (-1.5%), Asda (-5.7%) and Morrisons (-2.0%).
On the other hand, the retailers that saw the biggest increase in sales were Aldi (+18.2%) and Lidl (+12.3%), according to the figures.
“The brief mid-July heatwave will have helped kick-start sales for the supermarkets, however, August is an unpredictable month and, with a deflationary environment, the measure of success for the next few weeks will simply be to keep hold of new shoppers ahead of the ‘back to school’ promotions in September," said Watkins.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
