// Sainsbury’s sees the biggest drop in online searches between 4 and 19 December compared with last year
// Unlike their rivals, Aldi and Lidl saw 93,002 and 69,358 increases, respectively
Online searches for Sainsbury’s saw the largest fall out of all retailers from the start of December; dropping by 3,462,198 searches compared to December 2021.
According to data released this week by MediaVision, shared with Grocery Gazette, many online searches for the UK’s major supermarkets have slipped in the run-up to Christmas, compared to the same period last year.
The online analytics platform said that of the leading supermarkets, Tesco saw a decrease in searches of 472,286 while Asda experienced a drop of 108,563.
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However, it was much better news for the German discounters, Aldi and Lidl as they saw 93,002 and 69,358 increases, respectively.
Total searches for Aldi came in at 2,313,418 while Lidl saw an impressive 1,258,058 searches in December, narrowing the gap on retailers such as Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
MediaVision’s data also revealed that the busiest period in the lead up to Christmas was on 11 December with a total search volume of 9,761,225 across all supermarkets. However, this was down from 11,473,134 from last year’s festive peak.
MediaVision chief executive Louis Venter said: “The lead up to Christmas is always a busy time for all supermarkets, but this year the cost of living has led to consumers looking for alternatives to their normal retailer of choice,”
“It should come as no surprise that Aldi and Lidl are seeing big increases in search, proving they are ever-more serious contenders for the UK supermarket crown.
“Sainsbury’s are finding themselves in the eye of the storm – wanting to compete on price, while known for choice and quality. A difficult balance, when people are counting the pennies,” Venter added.
This news is unlikely to land well with Sainsbury’s boss, Simon Roberts who recently announced £550m worth of investment to cut prices in store to compete with Lidl and Aldi.
“It is really tough. Customers are watching every penny, every pound,” said Roberts, who is prepared to see profits drop in the short-term in order to make sure Sainsbury’s remains competitive in the market.
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