Kantar Worldpanel: Sainsbury’s and Morrisons ahead of market
Overall market growth dropped slightly to 3.9% for the 12 weeks to 20 February, compared with 4.2% for the period, year on year.
Sainsbury’s market share inched up year on year to 16.5% and continues the run of gaining share every month since March 2009. Morrisons stayed stable year on year at 12.3% and Tesco and Asda both dropped very slightly year on year to 30.3% and 16.9%.
Waitrose took its highest record market share at 4.4%.
The Co-op, which has just revealed its ethical business plan to help attract members, stabilised share at 6.7% but is down year on year on the combined 7.4% share of Somerfield and Co-op. The Co-op has now merged the Somerfield operation into its own.
Discounters such as Aldi and Lidl have seen double digit growth this year as their customers see household budgets squeezed by the VAT hike and commodity price rises pushing up the cost of food. However, this is not due to attracting new customers.
Retail analyst at Kantar Worldpanel Fraser McKevitt says: “With economic uncertainty increasingly in the news it is no surprise that shoppers are being cautious with their spending. However, while the discounters are performing well, this is not due to an increase in new shoppers but rather because their existing customers are spending more with them. The majority of people continued to seek value through promotions in the mainstream retailers, rather than trading down to the discounters.”
Sainsbury’s has just signed a partnership with style expert Gok Wan to design a womenswear collection.
