Premium retailer Waitrose has achieved its highest ever market share of 5 per cent, while Aldi’s year-on-year growth has accelerated to a record 33.5 per cent.
Waitrose and discounters Lidl and Aldi have taken a combined 3.5 share points from other retailers, equating to £4.4 bn a year, according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 2 March 2014.
Kantar director Chris Longbottom said Waitrose, Lidl and Aldi’s growth has put pressure on the big four to compete for a shrinking middle ground and cut prices to directly combat the discounters.
Instead of competing with the discounters by price cuts, Waitrose premium standing has allowed it instead to emphasise its hold on the other end of the market.
Speaking at the presentation for the full-year results of John Lewis Partnership last week, Waitrose managing director Mark Price reported that the retailer will make a very “British response” to the competition from the discounters.
Price said: “We have decided to compete by giving our customers morning coffee and a cup of tea in the afternoon. We decided to compete by giving them free newspapers. We have decided to compete by selling British products.”
Waitrose has said concierge-style welcome desks, already present in 112 stores, will be rolled out to another 140 stores this year.
Price also suggested that other hospitality services such as dry-cleaning and wine tasting may be tested in certain stores.
Kantar figures also revealed that The Co-operative has improved performance with positive sales growth of 0.7 per cent and only a slight drop in market share to 6.1 per cent.
Poor performers included Tesco, which has seen a drop in sales as well as a 0.6 per cent drop market share. It now has a 28.7 per cent share of the grocery market, compared to 29.6 per cent this time last year.
Third largest retailer Sainsbury’s was the only one of the top four to increase its share, taking it to 17 per cent, although it remains just behind Asda at 17.5 per cent.
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