The recent rise of Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl shows no signs of fading with the three retailers now accounting for a combined 11.5 per cent share of the UK grocery market.
According to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending 7 July 2013, Lidl achieved an all-time record market share of 3.1 per cent, Aldi retained its record share of 3.5 per cent and Waitrose, reporting strong sales growth of 10.9 per cent, now accounts for 4.8 per cent of the market. Discounter Aldi was recently crowned 'best UK supermarket' at the annual Which? awards.
The rise of the two discounters and the upmarket John Lewis Partnership retailer appears to be taking share away from the big four supermarkets, with Sainsbury's, achieving year-on-year growth of 3.8 per cent, the only top-tier retailer not losing market share over the period.
'Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl have all been hugely successful in recent years, growing well ahead of the market average and this trend has cut deeply into the available market share for the bigger retailers who are now having to compete for a contracting middle ground,' said Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel.
Meanwhile, despite continuing to lose market share with a loss of 0.2 percentage points to 11.7 per cent, Morrisons has come back from a sales loss in January of 1.7 per cent to a 1.8 per cent profit in its overall sales for this most recent period. Dalton Philips, CEO of the Bradford-based supermarket chain, insisted that the future is bright for Morrisons as it looks to launch its online business and increase its level of convenience stores.
Garner said premium labels are performing strongly, with consumers shopping around less due to the larger retailers providing similar price-matching strategies.
He explained: 'The latest price-matching promotions from retailers have reduced the amount consumers are shopping around, with many people feeling that they can get the same prices at different retailers.
“As a result we are seeing an increased focus on quality. Both Tesco Finest and Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference ranges are now growing strongly and Aldi’s ‘Like Brands only Cheaper’ campaign and Lidl’s ‘Taste Test’ are positioning their private products as direct competitors to major brands.”
Furthermore, market leaderTesco saw its market share drop to 30.1 per cent for the period, a dip of 0.6 percentage points.
