Tesco sales growth beats rivals
Supermarket giant Tesco has maintained its market share and matched market growth for the first time since June 2011 according to figures released by Kantar Worldpanel.
The market research firm’s latest grocery share figures for the 12 weeks ending 20 January 2013 show that Tesco achieved sales growth of 3.3% to give the retailer a market share of 30.4%.
Sainsbury’s achieved growth of 3.2% to take a market share of 16.9%. In contrast, Morrison’s saw a fall in its growth rate of 1.7% to give it a market share of 11.9%.
The strongest growth recorded during the period was at the discount and premium ends of the market. The Waitrose figures echo the record Christmas that the grocer reported with strong year-on-year sales growth of 8%, taking its market share to 4.6%.
Meanwhile, discount outlet Aldi out-performed the market with a growth rate of 28.2% while Lidl saw growth of 10%.
Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explained: “These positive results are a sign of stabilisation for Tesco as the retailer gets back on track with its customers. However, this improvement has put some pressure on the rest of the big four with Morrisons in particular suffering a drop in sales and a share decline of 0.6 percentage points in the latest period.”
Garner highlighted the improved performance from The Co-operative in the period with a sales increase of 0.9%. He added: “This growth contrasts with the declines posted throughout 2012 and could be a positive step for the grocer.”
