Latest industry sales figures have revealed that German retailers Aldi and Lidl continue to increase their market share in the UK after recording record sales in the 12 weeks ended 26 April.
Data recently released by Kantar Worldpanel shows that the two discounters, along with Waitrose, are the only food retailers growing sales in the UK. Aldi grew sales by 15.1 per cent and Lidl by 10.1 per cent. Aldi's market share now stands at 5.4 per cent, up from 4.7 per cent a year ago.
The sales figures have once again underlined the pressure on the 'big four' supermarkets: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.
According to Kantar Worldpanel, Tesco was down 1 per cent, Asda down 2.2 per cent, Sainsbury's down 0.2 per cent and Morrisons down 1.1 per cent.
The news comes hot on the heels of Sainsbury's reporting the first decline in operating profit for a decade and an overall loss for the year, as price cuts squeezed profit margins at the UK’s third-largest supermarket company.
Sales growth for the entire industry slowed to just 0.2 per cent year on year in the last 12 weeks.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Andrew Jennings.
