Discount retailers in the UK have been outshone by some of their more illustrious rivals during the second quarter of the year, according to a new study by industry analyst TNS looking at the 12 weeks ended 12 July 2009.
Morrisons, Asda and Waitrose reported sales growth of 9.5 per cent, 8.1 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively through the three-month period.
Tesco saw growth of 5.7 per cent, slightly behind that of the overall sector, while Sainsbury's recorded a sales increase of 7.7 per cent.
Retailers Aldi, Iceland and Lidl saw a relative slowdown in sales growth of 8.3 per cent, 6.9 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively, according to the report.
'We have slowed down in the last 12-14 weeks, but we were up against meteoric growth from last year,' Paul Foley, managing director of Aldi UK, told The Guardian. 'They were enormous numbers. It is not a reverse; it is just not growing at the same pace.'
The change in fortunes of the big retailers has been attributed to promotional activity from brands, new discount ranges and blanket advertising campaigns pushing price.
'The promotional activity the major multiples have put in place has stolen the wind out of the discounters' sails,' said Chris Longbottom of TNS. 'A lot of shoppers are seeing the big chains be more aggressive and the see-saw has tipped back towards them.'
Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose, told The Guardian that he felt the discounters had peaked, and that sales growth would fail to hit the heights of last year.
'I think the discounters will continue to grow, but not at anywhere near the same rate,' he said. 'The strategies employed by the supermarkets to improve value have taken the sting out of their tails.'
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