Discounters get a boost from falling confidence

The discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl are experiencing a resurgence as consumer confidence drops, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel grocery market share figures.


Both Aldi and Lidl report near 10% growth for the three months to 23 January, against total market growth of 4.2%. lifting their market share significantly from 5.9% and 6.1% respectively.

At the other end of the scale, upmarket supermarket Waitrose reported growth of 7.1%, boosted by new shoppers trading up over Christmas.

Sainsbury’s has made a strong start to the year and is again the only one of the Big Four to increase market share up 5.7% to 16.6% from 16.3% a year ago.

Despite overtaking Asda in December, Sainsbury’s still trails the Wal-Mart owned supermarket which holds 16.9% of the market.

Tesco and Asda have matched market growth with 4.3% and 4.0% respectively while Morrisons has recorded a slight dip during the period to 12.4% from 12.5%.

The Co-operative has lost 0.6% market share after shedding stores to satisfy the Office of Fair Trading, but now holds a 6.7% share of the market after integrating Somerfield into its business.

Edward Garner, communications director at Kantar Worldpanel, says: “Waitrose continues to benefit from strong sales at Christmas, boosted by new shoppers this year at both existing and new stores. However, with a group of shoppers tightening their purse strings and seeking value we’re also seeing a counter trend at the other end of the retail scale.”

Source : Rosie Baker - Marketing Week