Supermarket chain Morrisons has fallen behind rivals with its market share dropping to 11.5 per cent in the 12 weeks ending 2 September, a 0.2 percentage point drop in comparison to the same period last year, according to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel.
In a spell covering the Olympics and Paralympics, the grocery market grew at 3.3 per cent as Asda and Sainsbury's posted market-beating sales growth of 4.5 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.
In comparison, Morrisons posted disappointing sales over the sporting period, with a 0.5 per cent rise in revenues despite till growth of 2.6 per cent across the grocery sector.
"The pressure on Morrisons continues with its share slipping but this is to some extent inevitable, as the retailer presently offers no online ordering and currently only a small number of M Local convenience outlets - two areas which are currently major contributors to the growth of its three main competitors," explained Edward Garner, director of Kantar Worldpanel.
Sainsbury's market share rose to 16.4 per cent from 16.3 per cent a year earlier, while Asda's rose to 17.6 per cent from 17.4 per cent when excluding its Netto acquisition. There was also signs of a revitalised Tesco as the market leader's fall in share eased back to a 30.8 per cent share, only a 0.1 per cent drop from the same period last year.
Meanwhile, discounters Aldi and Lidl continue to grow rapidly with both posting grocery market shares of 2.9 and 2.8 per cent respectively, and remarkable record growth of 26.6 per cent for Aldi and an impressive 10.9 per cent for Lidl.
Garner believes that the hard discounters' cheaper pricing and unique fresh produce aisles are helping to sustain growth.
"It is clear that shoppers are watching their purses, but from a fresh produce perspective customers usually walk straight past fruit and vegetable aisles at the entrance of the big four retailers; Aldi and Lidl's fresh aisles take longer to find which makes customers more likely to purchase fruit and vegetables," concluded Garner.
