Aldi, Lidl Continue to Boost Market Share in Britain as They Expand Estates

By Ian Walker

LONDON--German discount grocers Aldi and Lidl continue to take sales and market share away from Britain's big four grocery retailers, as they expand their store estates and customers visit more frequently and buy more items, according to a market survey Tuesday.

Aldi and Lidl's joint market share rose to 10.8% in the 12 weeks ended Sept. 11, from 9.8% in the comparable 12 weeks ended Sept. 13, 2015. Separately, Aldi's market share has risen to 6.2% in the 12 weeks from 5.6% for the comparable period in 2015, while Lidl's market share has risen to 4.6% from 4.2% in the 12 weeks ended Sept. 13, 2015.

Aldi's sales in the 12 weeks have grown 12% to 1.54 billion pounds ($2.01 billion), while Lidl's sales have risen 9.5% to GBP1.13 billion, Kantar Worldpanel said. Kantar monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K.

By contrast, Tesco PLC's (TSCO.LN) market share and sales fell in the period. For the 12 weeks ended Sept. 11 Tesco's market share fell to 28.1% from 28.2% for the comparable period, while sales fell 0.2% to GBP6.96 billion.

Sainsbury PLC's (SBRY.LN) market share in the 12 weeks ended Sept. 11 has fallen to 15.9% from 16.2%, while sales fell 1.4% to GBP3.95 billion.

Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), saw its market share fall to 15.7% from 16.7% for the comparable 12 weeks, with sales 5.4% lower at GBP3.9 billion.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC's (MRW.LN) market share fell to 10.4% from 10.7%, while sales are 2.3% lower at GBP2.56 billion

Up-market retailer Waitrose's market share rose to a record 5.3% in the 12 weeks ended Sept. 11, from 5.2% in the comparable period, and sales climbed 3.4% at GBP1.32 billion.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said Waitrose's half price event boosted performance across much of the store, particularly in household and alcohol.

"However the increase in sales has come at a cost, with Waitrose' proportion of promotional sales reaching a higher level than some of the traditionally more promotion-focused 'big four' retailers," Mr. Fraser said.

Write to Ian Walker at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2016 04:12 ET (08:12 GMT)

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