Kantar Worldpanel figures show market growth ahead of grocery inflation
The latest grocery market figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks ending 3 October 2010 show respectable growth in the market at 4.1%, ahead of grocery inflation which stands at 3.0%.
Despite the recent media scare around soaring food prices, Kantar Worldpanel still expects grocery price inflation to be held to around 4% by the year-end.
Sainsbury’s recorded a growth of 5.6% and increased its market share by 0.2%, in contrast to Tesco which at 30.9% share remains largely unchanged. Indeed Sainsbury’s is the only top 4 grocery retailer to add share in this period, endorsing the strong results reported to the City last week.
Edward Garner, Communications Director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “We have seen Morrisons’ growth rate slow this period as it contends with the strong annual growth it posted a year ago. Similarly Asda continues to see its share under pressure with a drop of 0.1% but this is better than in previous months and we are currently seeing the re-launch of Asda’s core own-label range through the ‘Chosen by You’ campaign.”
Waitrose continues to forge ahead and has recorded yet another strong performance with growth well over twice the market average and an increase in share from 4.0% to 4.2%. This coincides with the beginning of its new campaign that matches Tesco prices on 1,000 branded products.
Somerfield has now all but disappeared from the market, with the bulk of its share feeding directly into The Co-operative, which now holds 6.7% market share. Once again, the Discounters have delivered a lack-lustre performance with Netto’s share declining to 0.7%, which has dragged the sector down. However, despite reported losses of £54m last week Aldi has maintained its market share in the last 12 weeks to 3.0%, equalling its share for this time last year.
Grocery inflation has increased and the figure for the 12 week ending period 3 October 2010 is 3.0 %*. According to Kantar Worldpanel this is a further increase from the low of 1.2% reported earlier this year in April but the underlying detail still supports Kantar Worldpanel’s original prediction that food price inflation will not rise above 4% this year.
