The latest grocery market share data released today has indicated an acceleration of growth across the board.

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending August 14 show the market growing at 0.3 per cent as pleasant summer weather spurred consumers into increasing their spend. 

According to Kantar, this is fastest acceleration for the overall market since March 2016.

Meanwhile, Nielsen‘s data for the 12 weeks to August 13 indicated that both the hot weather and Britain‘s success at the Rio 2016 Olympics combined to generate the best year-on-year supermarket sales figures in almost three years.

The overall value of sales in the grocery sector was up by 0.9 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, which according to Nielsen is the best figure (excluding Easter and Christmas-inflated periods) since the 1.7 per cent growth in the four weeks ending November 9, 2013. 

On the other hand, sales volumes increased one per cent – the best performance since the 1.5 per cent growth in the period ending March 28, 2015.

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While the Big 4, led by Tesco, continues to have a stronghold on the grocery sector in the UK, German supermarket retailers Aldi and Lidl continue to challenge them with rapid market share growth.

Aldi‘s sales grew by 10.4 per cent compared to the same 12-week period last year in Kantar‘s data, while according to Nielsen it grew 15.9 per cent.

As for Lidl, Kantar indicates that its sales grew 12.2 per cent compared to the same 12-week period last year while Nielsen said it experienced a 9.9 per cent growth.

“Both discounters benefitted from rising premium own label sales and forward planning by having their back to school ranges in store just as schools were breaking up,” Kantar‘s head of retail insight Fraser McKevitt said.

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Kantar Worldpanel’s latest grocery market share figures:

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The category with the strongest growth according to Nielsen was soft drinks, which had an uptick of 9.3 per cent year-on-year, bolstered by an 18.5 per cent growth in mineral water sales.

“The stellar Team GB performances at the Olympics combined with the hot weather, particularly in mid-July, helped supermarkets to their own personal best for some time,” Nielsen‘s UK head of retail insight Mike Watkins said.

“Brexit seems to have been replaced by an Olympic ‘feel-good‘ factor among shoppers and there were more visits to buy food and drink in the last four weeks than this time last year, with most retailers benefitting from an increase in shopper penetration.”

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Nielsen’s latest grocery market share figures:

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