The discounters are continuing to steer customers away from the big four retailers, with Aldi achieving an all-time record market share of 3.6 per cent, according to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel.
Lidl also improved its market share by 0.2 percentage points to 3.0 per cent for the 12 weeks ending 9 June.
In comparison, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all experienced a dip in respective shares, with Sainsbury's the only big-four retailer to buck the downward trend. Britain's third biggest supermarket increased its market share to 16.7 per cent, growing ahead of the market average. Sainsbury's recently announced an increase in its own-brand salad sales.
It was also good news for Waitrose, with the upmarket retailer achieving a 4.9 per cent share, up 0.3 percentage points from the same period last year. Waitrose also achieved positive sales growth of 10.4 per cent.
Fraser McKevitt, retail analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, believes the big four retailers are becoming more and more worried about the growth of the discounters such as Aldi, with the budget retailer averaging a 30 per cent annual sales growth throughout 2013.
He explained: 'Asda recently announced it is going toe-to-toe with Aldi on the price of fresh food and produce, demonstrating its growing concern with the threat from the discounter.
“The big four will have to keep an eye on maintaining high standards, even when competing on price, to make sure that they offer genuine value for money and not just cheap goods.”
Furtheremore, grocery market growth for the period stands at three per cent, down from 3.9 per cent in the same period last year. McKevitt believes the dip is due to the absence of an event similar to last summer's Jubilee celebrations, which had a big boost on food sales.
