Supermarkets Aldi and Waitrose announced strong sales growth for the four weeks ending 22 June- pointing towards continued pressure by consumers to find the best deals,
According to latest figures released today by global information and insights company Nielsen, among the 10 leading UK supermarkets, Aldi saw the greatest increase in sales in the 12 weeks ending June 22 (+24.3% value year-on-year) with a 9% increase in spend by shoppers per visit. Upmarket store Waitrose enjoyed an 8.4% increase in sales with Iceland increasing their sales by 4.4%. Discounter Lidl also announced a 3.4% growth.
Aldi outperformed the market significantly due to a 9% increase in spend by shoppers per visit. Aggregate sales value growth for the UK‘s leading supermarkets during the four weeks ending 22 June 2013 was up 2.3% y-o-y.
Explaining the figures, Nielsen‘s UK head of retailer and business insight Mike Watkins said real household incomes were still under pressure and consumers were shopping around for the best deals. He added: “Supermarkets have maintained in-store promotions and the percentage of spend on offer remained broadly unchanged. Some retailers are also investing considerably in fuel savings or money-off vouchers as a way of differentiating from the competition.”
Sainsbury had the highest year-on-year sales value growth (+2.3%) amongst the top five supermarkets. Consequently, all the top five, except Sainsbury, lost market share compared to the corresponding twelve weeks last year.
Commenting on retailer performance, Watkins said: “Sainsbury had another strong period, being the only one of the top four to outperform the market in terms of sales growths. The improved sales momentum continued at Morrisons during the four week period with new selling areas coming on stream. Tesco looks to have stabilised sales, whilst ASDA‘s performance was set against a very strong period last year.”
