Insight: Aldi’s market share reaches new high
New figures on the grocery market have revealed that Aldi took its market share to a new high in the 12 weeks to 24 March.
The data from Kantar shows that this year’s late Easter and Mother’s Day falling outside of the period led supermarket sales to increase by 1.4% to mark the slowest rate of growth since March 2018.
However, Aldi’s sales climbed by 10.6% to help it achieve a new record market share of 8%. Kantar found that thirteen million households visited the retailer at least once in the period.
Fraser McKevitt, Kantar’s consumer head of retail and consumer insight, said: “London holds potential for Aldi – as both its fastest growing region and where its market share is currently lowest – going some way to explain the recently announced trial of the smaller Aldi Local format in the capital.”
Lidl was the second fastest growing supermarket in the period, with sales increasing by 5.8% and its market share rising by 0.3 percentage points to 5.6%. The retailer saw particularly strong growth in the bakery goods, frozen food and biscuit categories.
Tesco sales were up 0.5% to give it a market share of 27.4%, while Asda increased its sales by 0.1% to become the second largest retailer in the UK with a 15.4% market share. Kantar said Asda’s performance was driven by attracting a greater number of affluent households and by shoppers making more regular trips.
Sales at Sainsbury’s fell by 1.8% while its market share dropped by 0.5 percentage points to 15.3%. McKevitt said: “Despite being overtaken by Asda in main store sales, Sainsbury’s remains the biggest seller of food and drink out of the two retailers and these figures do not include Argos. Sainsbury’s premium ‘Taste the Difference’ line is still a bright spot, with sales rising 4.4% and the brand growing sales of alcohol, poultry and dairy products in particular.”
Although Morrions has attracted an additional 40,000 shoppers over the past year, its sales fell by 0.1% in the 12-week period as shoppers picked up fewer items on each trip to its stores. The supermarket had a 10.3% share of the market.
Elsewhere, sales growth of 3.9% at the Co-op in the period meant its market share was 6.1% as the retailer benefited from new store openings and a focus on own brand lines.
Ocado’s market share reached a new high of 1.3% after sales increased by 5.5%. Sales at Iceland edged up 0.6% as its market share remained at 2.1% in the period.
Meanwhile, Waitrose posted its strongest growth since August 2018 with an uplift of 1.3% to give it a market share of 5%.
