Grocery share figures show Morrisons as fastest growing big four retailer
The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to 10 July 2011, show overall growth of 4.6%. Retail growth was 3.3% in the period suggesting the market is picking up said Kantar.
Grocery inflation steadily crept up rising from 4.6% to 4.8%. Kantar said the increase made it increasingly likely that grocery inflation would hit 5% in 2011.
Morrisons was the fastest growing of the big four retailers with growth of 5.6%, increasing its share from 11.8% to 11.9%. It was also the only big four retailer to grow ahead of the market during the period.
Martin Whittingham, director at Kantar Worldpanel explained: “While we previously predicted that grocery inflation would not exceed 5% in 2011, we believe this no longer to be the case. It has been growing much faster than anticipated and as such we expect it to reach 5% and perhaps go beyond in the next few months. However, unlike the high inflation that we saw in 2008, when it was over 10% in a third of the grocery categories, we are only seeing double digit inflation in a small number of categories.”
He added: “The increasing inflation rate is putting extra pressure on shoppers’ ability to manage their household budgets. With this in mind we expect the grocery market to slow in the coming months.”
Aldi and Lidl once again posted strong double digit growth of 20.2% and 15.6% respectively. Both retailers now represent 6.1% of the market. Waitrose was the next big winner with growth of 9% and increasing its share from 4.1% a year ago to 4.3%.
Martin added: “The increasing polarisation of the grocery market looks set to stay as consumers turn to the discounters to cut their budgets while others continue to spend in Waitrose. This divergence seems to be reflective of some contrasting lifestyles in the UK at the moment.”
