Aldi and Waitrose have continued to make strong strides in the grocery market as the big four, bar Sainsbury‘s feel the squeeze, according to Kantar.
Premium player Waitrose posted its highest ever market share of 5 per cent and grew sales by 6.2 per cent y-o-y for the 12 weeks ending 2 March. Aldi‘s sales surged 33.5 per cent y-o-y and now makes up 4.3 per cent of the market.
“Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all recorded declines in share with Tesco and Morrisons also seeing a drop in actual sales,” said Chris Longbottom, director at Kantar Worldpanel.
The privately owned German firm stole business from Morrisons in particular who lost 3.2 per cent of market share. The Bradford-based grocer, which is expected to report its lowest annual profit in five years, is planning to sell 10 per cent of its freehold property in a bid to appease shareholders.
He added: “Over the past three years Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl have taken a combined 3.5 share points from the competition which equates to £4.4 billion per year. This has put pressure on the big four supermarkets to compete for a shrinking middle ground and cut prices to directly combat the discounters.”
Tesco still dominate the grocery market but market share fell to its lowest level in nine years (28.7 per cent.)
The embattled Co-operative, who replaced Euan Sutherland with Richard Pennycook as interim boss this afternoon, improved its sales by 0.7 per cent.
