// Kantar Worldpanel found that the grocery market saw a sales rise of 0.5% in the period to September 8
// Lidl saw revenues increase 9.2%
// Ocado saw greatest overall sales rise with sales up 12.7%
The UK grocery market has returned to growth as sales rose 0.5 per cent in the period to September 8, although volume was flat, Kantar Worldpanel reported.
German discounter Lidl generated the greatest sales rise, with revenues increasing 9.2 per cent, taking its market share to six per cent.
Online food retailer Ocado saw the greatest overall sales rise, with a 12.7 per cent increase, giving it a 1.4 per cent share.
However, sales at the Big 4 grocers were down.
Big 4 leader Tesco saw its market share slip from 27.4 per cent to 26.9 per cent.
Asda was down from 15.3 per cent to 15.1 per cent.
Sainsbury’s slipped from 15.4 per cent to 15.3 per cent and Morrisons from 10.2 per cent to 9.9 per cent.
“Lidl has crossed the six per cent market share line for the first time, and an additional 618,000 shoppers visited the retailer compared with last year, helped by store openings, refurbishments and its newspaper voucher deals,” Kantar Worldpanel head of retail Fraser McKevitt said.
“Having moved through the five per cent barrier as recently as May 2017, the retailer has taken just over two years to add another percentage point to its market share – one that’s worth £1.2 billion annually.”
The unexpected warm weather over the bank holiday benefited the grocers.
“All summer, retailers have faced tough comparisons with last year’s heatwave, and disappointing weather has made it hard for them match the highs of 2018,” McKevitt said.
“The forecast for August bank holiday was more than welcome and shoppers made the most of it being the hottest one on record, spending £1.3 billion from Friday through to Sunday, which was marginally more than last year.
“As we move closer to October 31, it seems talk about stockpiling might be just that because we’re not seeing any evidence of it at the moment.
“In fact, households bought 0.9 per cent fewer items during the past 12 weeks than they did last year.”
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