Morrisons and Tesco rise to top the big four in last quarter
Morrisons and Tesco were the fastest growing of the big four supermarkets in the last quarter according to new figures from Kantar Worldpanel.
The firm’s latest grocery market share figures covering the 12 weeks to 25 February also show that grocery sales increased in value by 3.2% compared to the same time last year.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The grocery market remains in good health, spurred on by February festivities such as Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, which lend themselves to a focus on ready meals. Over the month, sales of chilled ready meals which form part of a meal deal jumped by 26% as retailers offered customers the opportunity to wine and dine at home without the fuss, while Chinese ready meals also rose by more than a quarter.”
Tesco and Morrisons both achieved sales growth of 2.7% in the period. McKevitt added: “Despite a slight fall in market share of 0.1 percentage points, Tesco experienced particularly strong growth from its Extra superstores. The varied selection of groceries on offer at these larger stores has encouraged customers to return to fuller trolley shops, with average baskets worth £31.09 – currently, the highest value in the bricks-and- mortar market.”
Holding its market share steady year-on-year at 10.6%, Morrisons entered its 16th consecutive period of growth. Kantar said the supermarket’s premium own-label line The Best proved particularly successful, with sales rising by 20% year-on-year.
During the period, Aldi and Lidl once again battled to be crowned the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket. Aldi pipped Lidl to the post as sales grew by 13.9% and 13.3% respectively.
Meanwhile, Kantar’s figures show that the Co-op returned to growth for the first time since July 2017 with sales up 0.4%, after a period of decline following the retailer’s sale of nearly 300 stores to McColl’s. Iceland held its share steady at 2.2% compared to this time last year, increasing sales by 1.3%.
During the 12-week period Asda attracted an additional 309,000 shoppers through its doors which helped its sales growth to reach its highest level since June 2014 at 2.3%. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s sales rose by 1.1%.
