Morrisons has suffered a share decline of 0.6 percentage points, according to the latest grocery share data from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to 20 January.
The Bradford-based retailer also suffered a sales decline of 1.7 per cent in the period, which follows on from a disappointing performance over the Christmas period where like-for-like sales dropped 2.5 per cent for the six weeks to 30 December.
Meanwhile, Tesco managed to maintain its market share, of 30.4 per cent, and match market growth for the first time since June 2011. The UK's leading retailer's sales increased by 3.3 per cent in the latest period and Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, believes Tesco's positive performance has piled the pressure on its rivals.
He said: “These positive results are a sign of stabilisation for Tesco as the retailer gets back on track with its customers.
'However, this improvement has put some pressure on the rest of the big four with Morrisons in particular suffering a drop in sales and a share decline of 0.6 percentage points in the latest period.”
According to Kantar, No. 2 grocer Asda achieved growth of 2.1 per cent, while No. 3 player Sainsbury's saw growth of 3.2 per cent.
Some of the strongest growth recorded during this latest period included Waitrose, with the upmarket retailer achieving strong year-on-year growth of eight per cent and increasing its grocery market share by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6 per cent.
And the discounters have also continued to perform well, with Aldi achieving year-on-year growth rates of an impressive 28.2 per cent, and Lidl 10 per cent. Furthermore, Iceland, which recently announced its plans to recommit to the fresh produce category, held on to its record 2.2 per cent market share from the previous period.
Garner believes continued pressure on consumer shopping budgets is pushing more activity towards discounters as the public shops around for bargains.
He added: 'The widening gap between market growth, currently at 3.3 per cent, and grocery price inflation (4.9 per cent) is causing a squeeze on shopping budgets. As a result, there is a heightened need for retailers to deliver value for money to customers.'
