Big Four face slowdown as discounters prosper

Morrisons is the only one of the Big Four supermarkets to grow its market share in the last three months, while discounters continue to outperform the rest of the sector, according to Kantar Worldpanel’s latest grocery share figures.

Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s are still experiencing a slowdown in growth while discounters Lidl and Aldi are reporting record market shares.

Morrisons reported year on year growth of 4.6% and increased its market share to 11.7% from 11.6%, for the three months to 7 August.

Tesco’s market share fell to 30.5% from 30.8% a year ago.

Asda’s market share fell to 17.1% of the market down from 17.6% a year ago, despite the acquisition of the Netto business.

Sainsbury’s reported 3.6% growth, in line with the total grocery market which is growing at 3.8%. Its market share remained flat at 16.%.

Aldi posted growth of 24.4% to reach a 3.6% share of the market while Lidl’s share increased 13.8% to 2.5% share.

Upmarket grocer Waitrose has maintained growth of 8.3% – over double the market growth – to reach 4.3% of the market.

The “two nations’ trend is replicated in own brand ranges with budget labels reporting only 2% growth while premium ranges are growing at over 8%.

Edward Garner, cirector at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “It is evident that shoppers are trying to manage their ’personal’ inflation by trading down. This can be done by seeking out lower priced outlets and cheaper alternative products. It’s therefore unsurprising that the discounters have pushed further ahead this month.”

“While the discounters are prospering we are not seeing the shift towards consumers buying more own-label products that might be expected from cost cutting,” he says.

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