Supermarkets sales swell on Easter egg sales, discounter eat further share

Supermarkets enjoyed a £325m spent on Easter eggs over the last three months to help the sector grow at its fastest rate for three and a half years, while shop price deflation eased.

However, while sales increased at all major grocers the 'big four' grocers all lost market share as discounters continued their land grab, according to industry data from Kantar Worldpanel and Nielsen simultaneously published on Wednesday.

Over the 12 weeks to 23 April, the grocery market grew by 3.7%, Kantar said, adding almost £1bn in additional sales to the sector.

Takings at supermarket tills during the four weeks ending 22 April were up 8.6% and volumes up 3.2%, according to Nielsen's calculations.

Extending the period to eight weeks to allow for the distortion from the later timing of Easter this year, Nielsen found sales rose 2.8%, the highest growth this year.

Market share moves

Tesco bounced back from a previous dip, Kantar discovered, with sales up 1.9% in the 12 weeks to 23 April, up from what appears to be a blip a month ago when sales fell 0.4%.

But the UK's largest grocer lost market share, falling 0.5 percentage points to 27.5%.

Likewise Sainsbury's saw its share shrink to 16.1% from 16.5% as sales grew 1.7%.

Asda sales rose 0.8% but its market share fell to 15.6% from 16.0%.

Resurgent Morrisons was the fastest growing of the group, with sales up 2.2%, but this still lagged the market and its market share fell to 10.4% from 10.6%.

Limited assortment discounters Aldi and Lidl were the main market share gainers, up to new record highs of 6.9% from 6.0% for Aldi and to 5.0% from 4.4% for Lidl as sales rose by 18.3% and 17.8% respectively.

Iceland also enjoyed strong sales growth, up 9.3%, while Ocado sales rose 10.8%.

Buying trends and easing deflation

Morrisons made the most of the trend of premium own-label lines continuing to see huge growth, Kantar said, with the Bradford-based group's ‘The Best’ line performing well following last year’s launch and helping attract more affluent shoppers through its doors.

Nielsen also pointed to a surge in sales of impulse goods such as crisps and confectionery, with sales over the last eight weeks up 7.5%, followed by drinks at 6.5% and fresh foods at 3.4%.

Shop prices deflation also eased to 0.5% in April from the 0.8% fall in March, according to Nielsen's shop price index, which was the shallowest deflation rate since November 2013.

Non-food deflation decelerated to 1.4% from the 2.0% decline in March, while food inflation decelerated to 0.9% from the 1.0% rise in March.

Fresh Food reported inflation of 1.0% in April from the 0.9% rise in the previous month.

Ambient Food inflation decelerated to 0.8% in April from the 1.3% rise in March.