The latest supermarket share data for the UK, published by Kantar, has revealed positive performances for Aldi and Lidl in fresh produce.
Both Aldi and Lidl now control 3.2 and 4.1 per cent of fresh produce sales, an overtrade of 0.3 and 1.2 percentage points respectively.
The data showed record market shares of 2.9 per cent for the two discount chains, reflecting positive year-on-year growth of 26.1 per cent for Aldi and 11.5 per cent for Lidl.
The figures, for the 12 weeks ending 8 July 2012, also showed that growth in the grocery market as a whole had fallen to 2.1 per cent despite standing at 4.2 per cent last year.
Kantar said grocery inflation was 3.8 per cent for the 12 week period, continuing a downward trend from a November 2011 peak of 6.2 per cent and reflecting lower inflation for fresh produce.
Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explained: 'We are seeing big cutbacks by consumers as they continue to respond to this current period of austerity.
'The success of the discounters, Aldi and Lidl, is a clear example of shoppers watching their purses, with both retailers continuing to surge ahead.'
Among the big four, fortunes were largely unchanged, with market share growth for Wal-Mart's Asda (up 0.5 per cent year-on-year) and Sainsbury (up 0.1 per cent) and share dips for Tesco (down 0.4 percent) and Morrisons (down 0.2 per cent).
Kantar said it believed premium labelled products were on the decline as customers shop around for bargains.
Garner concluded: 'Premium own-label products have been in continuous growth since 2008, despite often being more expensive than their brand equivalent. But they are now declining by 6 per cent year-on-year, while economy own labels such as Tesco’s Everyday Value are growing at 13 per cent.'
