// Morrisons expects to lose share to Aldi and Lidl following private equity ownership and cost-of-living crisis
// Morrisons occupied the fourth UK grocery spot since taking over Safeway in 2004
Morrisons is close to losing shoppers to German discounters Aldi and Lidl since falling into private equity ownership last year.
The Big Four supermarket, which is the UK’s fourth biggest, has also felt the impact from the cost-of-living crisis.
Morrisons has been losing customers to discounters, while its fellow Big Four grocers Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda have also felt the strain.
READ MORE: Morrisons urges shoppers to not fall for ‘free food boxes’ scam
However, sales at Morrisons are falling faster.
Morrisons occupied the fourth spot since taking over Safeway in 2004.
In the latest Kantar grocery market figures for the three months to July 11, Morrisons sales fell 6.7%, from £3 billion to £2.8 billion.
It was a much sharper drop than Sainsbury’s and Asda, which saw sales fall by around 2%.
And Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket, saw sales rise by 0.1% in the same period.
Lidl’s sales rocketed 13.9%, while Aldi’s rose by 11.3%, meaning the German discounters now take up a massive 16.1% of the overall market.
Aldi alone takes up 9.1% of the market, just 0.3 percentage points behind Morrisons, having narrowed the gap from 1.9 percentage points this time last year when Morrisons had a 10.1% share and Aldi 8.2%.
Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said more than 67 per cent of shoppers used a Lidl or Aldi in the past three months.
He added that the discounters attracted visits from 1.4 million more households than the same time last year.
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