Aldi, Lidl Market Share Tops 10% for First Time - Survey

   By Ian Walker 
 

LONDON--The joint market share of discount German retailers Aldi and Lidl has reached 10% of the British grocery market for the first time, compared with only 5% back in 2012, according to the latest survey compiled by Kantar Worldpanel.

"In the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while the average spend per trip has increased by 4% to 18.85 pounds ($28.67), which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average," Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel said Tuesday.

"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," he added.

Separately Aldi's market share has risen to 5.6% in the 12 weeks ended Nov. 8, from 4.8% for the comparable period in 2014. Lidl's market share has risen to a record 4.4%, from 3.7% in the 12 weeks ended Nov. 9, 2014.

Aldi's sales in the 12 weeks have grown 17% to GBP1.41 billion, while Lidl's shares have 19% to GBP1.09 billion.

J. Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) was the only one of the top four grocers to gain market share in the period, to 16.6%, from 16.4% a year earlier. Sales in the period grew 1.5% to GBP4.15 billion, according to Kantar, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K.

Number one retailer Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) saw its market share fall to 27.9% in the 12 weeks, compared with 28.7% in the comparable period ended Nov. 9, 2014. Tesco sales are down 2.5% over the period to GBP7 billion.

Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), saw its market share fall to 16.4%, from 17.1% for the comparable 12 weeks, with sales 3.5% lower at GBP4.12 billion.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN)'s market share fell to 10.8%, from 11.1%, while sales are 1.7% lower at GBP2.72 billion.

Up-market retailer Waitrose's market share rose to 5.2%, from 5.1% and sales climbed 2.7% at GBP1.3 billion.

Write to Ian Walker at [e-mail]

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November 17, 2015 03:41 ET (08:41 GMT)

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