Aldi and Lidl’s continued success results in 10% grocery market share

The food retail revolution is firmly underway as Aldi and Lidl now account for a 10% share of all British grocery sales, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

The success of the German-owned budget chains has sparked a price war between the UK’s ‘big four’ supermarkets - Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, all of which have experienced significant dips in profits over the last year.

According to Kanter’s latest data, in the three months to 8 November, Lidl’s market share reached a record high of 4.4%, increasing by 0.7% points on last year due to a sales growth of 19%. In addition, Aldi grew sales by 16.5%, which maintained its market share at 5.6% for the fifth consecutive month.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “If you look back as recently as 2012 Aldi and Lidl only held a 5% share of the market, and it had previously taken them nine years to double their combined share from 2.5%.

“In the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while average spend per trip has increased by 4% to £18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average. The discounters show no sign of stopping and with plans to open hundreds of stores between them, they’ll noticeably widen their reach to the British population.”

Kantar’s data also revealed that despite the holiday season approaching, the ‘big four’ are still struggling to cope with the success of their low budget counterparts.

Tesco saw a sales decrease of 2.5% while Morrisons’ sales fell by 1.7%, but it was Asda which experienced the biggest dip with a 3.5% drop in sales.

However, Sainsbury’s did manage to see a 1.5% rise in sales, which as a result took over Asda to become the UK’s second largest supermarket.

McKevitt added: “Sainsbury’s has seen its fourth consecutive period of growth, flying in the face of tough market conditions. It’s 1.5% increase in sales was sufficiently ahead of the market for the retailer to increase its share by 0.2% points – the first share gain registered by any of the ‘big four’ retailers since October 2014.

“Sainsbury’s performance means it has once again regained its position as Britain’s second largest supermarket, pushing ahead of Asda in the latest 12 weeks. The food-focused retailer traditionally increases its market share over Christmas, so we can expect to see it keep hold of second place for the time being.”