Sainsbury’s shoppers defect to rivals
Sainsbury’s is losing shoppers to rival supermarkets, it has been reported.
Shoppers switched more than £11m of spending from Sainsbury’s to its competitors in the 12 weeks to 12 November according to new data from TNS Worldpanel it was reported in The Times.
Waitrose is thought to have taken £4m of this spend away from Sainsbury’s, and observers suggests this could be because of the Essentials value range it introduced in March.
Tesco benefited from £2m of the switched spend, which suggests that its relaunched Clubcard and double points scheme has attracted Sainsbury’s shoppers.
Discount supermarket, Aldi, is thought to haven taken a further £2.5m from the supermarket chain demonstrating that Sainsbury’s is facing challenges from rivals at both ends of the scale.
The figures come just days after the grocery chain reported growing customer numbers and sales growth of 3.7% to £11.16m in the first half and chief executive Justin King announced ambitious expansion plans and intends to increase space by 15% in the next two years.
Grocery market share figures from TNS last week showed Sainsbury’s growing its market share 5.6% during the 12 weeks to 2 November, while Tesco’s share increased 4.7%, Asda’s 6.6% and Morrisons’ by 8.5%.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson says: “We continue to grow market share and we are now serving over 18.5 million customers each week, up 800,000 on this time last year. We also have an excellent growth opportunity through our expansion plans.”
