Supermarkets remain resilient
The supermarket sector is remaining resilient despite shoppers efforts to control their spending, according to the latest retail figures.
Sainsbury’s and Morrisons outpaced rivals and gained market share, reporting 4.8 and 5.3% growth respectively, both ahead of the market average of 4.5%, for the 12 weeks ending 4 September, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel grocery share figures.
Tesco reported 3% growth, while Asda trailed with 2.2% total growth, according to Kantar’s monthly survey which tracks the total spend, excluding petrol, that goes through supermarket tills based on 25,000 demographically representative households.
Martin Whittingham, director at Kantar Worldpanel says: “The grocery market continues to deliver solid growth helped by inflation. Consumers are managing their budget by making more shopping trips but buying fewer items on each outing. These changes are at the margin but illustrate how shoppers are trying to cope with the increasing pressures on their household budget.”
Tesco holds a 30.4% share of the market, followed by Asda with 17.4%. Sainsbury’s holds 16.1% while Morrisons 11.5%.
Meanwhile, Nielson, which tracks all purchases brought into the homes of 14,500 households via an at home panel, has reported that value sales growth has slowed from to 3.4% down from 3.7% a year ago thanks to an increase in promotional activity.
The percentage of products sold on promotion has increased to 37%, up from 35% earlier in the summer.
Mike Watkins, senior manager of retailer services at Nielsen, says: “Retailers have been tactically using promotions to stimulate sales during the quieter summer holiday period. And don’t be surprised to see further promotions aimed at attracting shoppers in store, as retailers and manufacturers gear up for Christmas trading.”
Volume sales remained in decline ( -0.9%) as shoppers are buying fewer items and spending less.
