Morrisons still gaining market share
Organic growth building sales
November 29 2003
Morrisons is continuing to grow its share of the UK grocery market organically, ahead of its revised bid for rival Safeway.
Till roll figures from TNS give Morrisons a market share of 6.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to November 9, up from 6 per cent a year earlier and 6.3 per cent the month before.
Some of Morrisons’ success seems to have come at the expense of the market leaders. Tesco’s market share of 26.8 per cent is up from of 25.7 per cent a year ago, but lower than the 27 per cent recorded a month earlier.
Asda, at 16.7 per cent, showed a similar pattern, up from 15.9 per cent a year ago, but dipping month-on-month from 16.8 per cent.
Safeway’s market share was 9.2 per cent, down from 9.9 per cent a year ago, but unchanged month-on-month. The takeover target’s priority has been to keep sales steady this year during the uncertainty over its future.
Sainsbury’s, which has conceded that it lost ground across the summer, saw its share fall to 16 per cent from 17.4 per cent the year before and 16.1 per cent a month ago. The company has said the current business revamp, which has seen disruption in stores as new IT systems are installed, limited its ability to adapt product ranges to the very hot weather.
