DISCOUNTERS Aldi and Lidl now account for more than 12% of grocery sales in Britain, according to the latest Nielsen retail data.
The research reveals that during the 12 weeks ending 25 February 2017, Aldi’s sales grew by 12% year-on-year, and Lidl’s by 9.1%, while across the overall market sales increased by only 2.2%.
This means that Aldi and Lidl’s combined market share is 12.3% or nearly £1 in every £8 spent on groceries.
The big four of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons held on to the biggest shares but both Sainsbury and Asda recorded sales below the figure for the same period a year earlier. Tesco improved by 0.8% and Morrisons was up by 1.9%.
Other than the two big discounters, Iceland showed the biggest increase over the previous year, at 5.6%.
Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight, Mike Watkins, said: “Aldi and Lidl aren’t solely associated with low-priced brands, having been very astute at promoting the quality and price of their private-label range.”
Kantar Worldpanel has reported that over the 12 weeks to 26 February 2017 supermarket sales grew at their fastest rate since June 2014, up by 2.3% compared to the same period last year.
Head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, Fraser McKevitt, said: “Staples such as butter, tea and fish all saw prices rise by more than 5% during the past 12 weeks.
“However, it’s important to point out that inflation is still far from universal, with prices actually falling across a number of categories including crisps, bacon and eggs.”
Kantar figures show that Morrisons grew ahead of the market with a sales increase of 2.6%, its fastest growth in five years. And Tesco increased sales for the sixth period in a row, the first time it has achieved this since 2014.
McKevitt added: “Lidl became Britain’s fastest growing supermarket during the past 12 weeks, with sales up by 13%.”
