The latest TNS Worldpanel grocery market share figures, published this week for the 12 weeks ending August 10, show that price is now clearly driving sales.
Those retailers with a clear price message are posting the strongest performances. Total grocers grew turnover by 7.2 per cent compared with last year but this robustness is mainly just a reflection of inflation with volumes effectively static. Price inflation in grocery increased to 6.8 per cent for the 12 weeks ending July 13, compared to the same period a year ago. This figure is based on 78,000 identical products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by British shoppers.
Both Aldi and Lidl show strong growth of 19.8 per cent and 12.3 per cent respectively. And for Aldi this means it now has its largest share yet of the UK market of three per cent. TNS notes in its report that this is driven entirely by new stores and new shoppers. Spend levels for existing shoppers remain unchanged and quite low compared with the top four retailers - typical monthly spend per household is £45 for Aldi compared with £126 for Tesco.
TNS also warns that although several commentators have stated that “the middle classes are flocking to the discounters”, in fact, new discount shoppers are predominantly younger households with children as their budgets have come under strongest pressure.
Iceland has recorded growth of 14.4 per cent for the period, which is its strongest for several years and reflects its discount message.
For the top four, performance continues in line with recent periods: Asda and Morrisons have grown ahead of the market and therefore seen share increases whereas the Tesco and Sainsbury growths of 6.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively are behind the total market.
Waitrose growth recorded by TNS of four per cent is lower than historical performance and this has caused a small share erosion of 0.1 per cent - perhaps unsurprising given the way low price is dominating the retail agenda.
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