Asda has overtaken Sainsbury’s to become the second-biggest online grocer in the UK - for the first time ever.

According to TNS Worldpanel figures seen exclusively by The Independent, Asda grew its home shopping grocery sales by 71.8 per cent for the 12 weeks to June 15, compared to the year-earlier period.

Sainsbury’s is thought to have grown online sales by just 17.3 per cent over the same 12-week period.

Asda first overtook Sainsbury's in May and has been slightly ahead since then.

Asda chief executive Andy Bond admitted last year that the retailer had been slow to capitalise on online grocery sales, and has turned the situation around. For the seven days to June 15, Asda grew home shopping sales by 56 per cent, while Sainsbury's was thought to have increased sales by 8.3 per cent.

In the autumn, Asda will relaunch its website on a new platform, to offer customers a fully integrated grocery and non-food shopping experience. Sainsbury’s is also gearing up to push online sales of non-food items such as clothing even further.

In the whole grocery sector, TNS figures revealed Tesco had a 31.3 per cent share of the market, Asda 16.9 per cent and Sainsbury’s 15.9 per cent for the 12 weeks to July 13, 2008.

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