Supermarket growth falls in run-up to Christmas

New data from the Kantar Worldpanel has shown Co-op, Aldi and Lidl to be out-performing the big four supermarkets.

In the 12 weeks to 2 December, Tesco (LON: TSCO) and Sainsbury’s (LON: SBRY) saw a drop in their market share by 0.1% and 0.2% respectively. The Co-op saw an increase in market share by 4.5%.

However, the biggest winners in the run-up to the festive period are Aldi and Lidl, who saw their market shares increase by 12.2% and 11.2% respectively.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “Over the summer shoppers upped their weekly trips to the grocers as they took advantage of the hot weather, but with the mercury dropping the number of trips has tailed off – again contributing to waning market growth.”

Despite the slowdown for Tesco and Sainsbury’s, shoppers are still expected to spend a record £10 billion this Christmas.

“Because of the way Christmas falls, grocers have an extra trading day this year meaning overall sales in December – up to and including Christmas Eve – could reach £10 billion,” said McKevitt.

“Despite an uncertain political climate taking its toll on consumer confidence, shoppers are still willing to spend that little bit extra on more expensive goods.”

“Total premium own-label lines are growing at 5.5%, which could lead to record sales in this price tier of £1.1 billion over the 12-week period,” he added.

Overall supermarkets did not perform well and saw growth slip to the slowest pace since March 2017 thanks to fewer shoppers over the heatwave. 

 

 

 

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