Tesco and Morrison gain share as big supermarkets fight on, Kantar says

All four of the major supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury, Walmart's Asda and Morrison - endured a year-on-year decline in sales during the last twelve weeks, according Kantar and Nielsen data, though their market share remained solid.

Across the grocery sector, Kantar Worldpanel found the market was almost flat for the 12 weeks to 22 May, with value growth of just 0.1%. With food price deflation remaining at 1.5%, this indicated the overall industry enjoyed a positive performance in recent weeks.

But for the Big Four the struggle against each other and the fast-expanding discounters continued. Although sales fell 1.0% at Tesco, this was the best performance among the quartet and saw its market share rebound to 28.3% from 28% a month ago.

Sainsbury's sales were down 1.2% due to its shift away from multi-pack promotions, while its market share shrank to 16.2% from 16.5%.

Asda's 5.1% decline was the worst-hit by its price positioning against the discounters, and its share fell to 15.8% from 16%.

Morrisons till roll was 2.1% lower, reflecting its convenience store disposals, but underlying trading was indicated by a market share gain to 10.7% from 10.6%.

“While the big four are struggling to keep their market share what’s clear is that consumers aren’t flocking away from their stores – their combined shopper numbers have dropped only 0.2% in the latest 12 weeks," said Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, noting that 94% of Aldi and Lidl shoppers still visit at least one of the four major retailers every four weeks.

Waitrose, part of the John Lewis group, achieved a record share of the grocery market of 5.3%, growing sales by 2.1%.

Meanwhile, even before its recent rebranding, the Co-operative continued its recent strong run, lifting sales 3.3% for the second period in a row to achieve a market share of 6.2%.

Lidl and Aldi remain the fastest growing retailers – up 14.2% and 11.4% respectively.

"This is not just about low prices," said Kantar, "coupled with Waitrose’s strong performance this period the discounters are contributing to premiumisation. Aldi’s premium own label Specially Selected has grown by 15% while Lidl’s Deluxe range has grown by an impressive 65%."

Nielsen's take

Rival figures from Nielsen found the value of sales during the four weeks ending 21 May 2016 was down 0.1% versus the same period a year ago, while volume was flat (0.0%). September was the last time that both value and volume year-on-year figures were better than these.

“These are the most encouraging figures for the supermarkets for quite some time," said Mike Watkins, Nielsen's UK head of retailer and business insight, adding that good weather in the fortnight up to 14 May helped value growths return to positive territory of 2.1%.

“The underlying sales trend is slowly improving and the supermarkets should return to sustainable, albeit low, positive growth later in the summer. With the proportion of shoppers switching to cheaper grocery brands to save money at a lowest-ever level, this indicates that initiatives to reduce prices permanently and run less promotions is resonating well with shoppers.”