Supermarket sales slip over Christmas, Kantar finds

UK supermarket industry sales over the festive period fell by 0.2% on last year, though Sainsbury's continued to grab market share along with the ever-rising discounters.

Market data from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 3 January found Sainsbury's increased sales by 0.8% on last year as a simple price cutting strategy helped attract an additional 114,000 shoppers.

Industry leader in terms of size, Tesco saw sales fall 2.7%, though this was better than the 3.4% fall of a month ago, but its market share declined to 28.3%.

Despite its encouraging trading update also release on Tuesday, Morrisons sales fell 2.6% due to the effect of store closures and it was show to have suffered a decline in market share to 11%.

Another loser was Asda, one of the worst performers with a 3.6% fall in sales year-on-year and a declined in share to 16.2%.

Lidl was the fastest growing retailer overall, with sales up by 18.5%, gaining clear separation from rival discounter Aldi, where sales rose 13.3%.

Lidl benefitted from an expanded product range, especially in its Deluxe premium line, which helped encouraged consumers to increase the size of their shop, with average basket sizes up by 7% to £17.20.

“The discounters are continuing to establish themselves in the minds of British consumers – almost one in eight did their single biggest December shopping trip in Aldi or Lidl, on top of the 15.6 million households who visited at some point in the 12 weeks," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.

"That is an increase of nearly one million shoppers on last year, and their combined share is up from 8.3% last year to 9.7%"

Despite the success of the limited assortment discounters (LADs), he pointed out that UK consumers are still spending most of their money in more traditional supermarkets, particularly in December, with total discounter share dipping from the 10.0% achieved just before Christmas.

But their influence has gripped the entire industry, with groceries 1.8% cheaper than last year.

Kantar also found that alcohol sales increased, thanks to a surge in popularity for sparkling wines including Champagne and Prosecco, which increased in value by 11%.