Discounters grow ahead of market, says Kantar
Discounters Aldi and Lidl have continued to grow their market share in the past three months according to new figures from Kantar Worldpanel.
The two companies both achieved record shares of 2.9% in the 12 weeks to 8 July as Aldi grew its sales by 26.1% and Lidl by 11.5% in comparison to the equivalent period last year.
The grocery market saw overall growth of 2.1% in the period, compared with 4.2% growth seen this time last year.
“We are seeing big cutbacks by consumers as they continue to respond to this current period of austerity,” said Kantar’s Edward Garner.
“The success of the discounters is a clear example of shoppers watching their purses. Once again, Aldi and Lidl achieved all-time record shares and remarkable growth,” he added.
Although Waitrose continued to grow at over double the rate of the whole market, the growth slowed from 7.5% to 4.8% which Kantar said could be a sign that the premium sector is beginning to slow.
Garner continued: “Another sign of austerity making an impact is the decline of the premium own label sector. Premium own-label products have been in continuous growth since 2008, despite often being more expensive than their brand equivalent. But now they are declining by 6% year-on-year, while economy own labels such as Tesco’s Everyday Value are growing at 13%.”
Among the big four supermarkets, fortunes continue unchanged with market share growth for Asda and Sainsbury’s and share dips for Tesco and Morrisons.
