Over half of UK now shops at Aldi or Lidl
Latest figures on the state of the grocery market have revealed that over half of the country shopped at either Aldi or Lidl in the 12 weeks to 8 December.
Figures released by Kantar Worldpanel show that some 50.1% of all UK households stepped into a discount retailer compared with 46.1% a year ago.
Chris Longbottom, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explained: “Both Aldi and Lidl have continued to record double-digit growth and are successfully broadening their shopper base with half of all British households visiting one of them during the latest period. Aldi now boasts a record 4% of the grocery market having increased its share for nearly every 12-week period since the end of 2010. Lidl retains its record share of 3.1% which it reached during the summer.”
The research firm found that value continues to be a powerful incentive for UK shoppers, a fact that is further highlighted by Farmfoods which, while still a relatively small player in the market, has grown its sales by 36.6% compared with last year.
Longbottom added: “At the other end of the market Waitrose has performed strongly with 6.7% growth. Based on past patterns, it is likely to further boost its market share over the busy Christmas period, as is Iceland which traditionally performs well with its party food offering.”
Meanwhile, all four big supermarkets and The Co-operative lost market share in the 12-week period. The best performer was Sainsbury’s although the year-on-year growth of 1.8% was insufficient to match the market growth of 2.8%. Tesco accounted for 29.9% of sales in the period, followed by Asda with 16.9%, Sainsbury’s with 16.8% and Morrisons with 11.6%.
