Morrisons and Asda star performers

Morrisons. Photo credit: Mikael Buck/Morrisons/PA Wire

The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed that Morrisons, with growth of 2.9 per cent, led the pack, closely followed by Asda, which showed growth of 2.8 per cent, considerably ahead of market leader Tesco, which had growth of 2.2 per cent and Sainsbury’s, where growth was 1.0 per cent.

Chris Hayward, consumer specialist at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The sun shone on the grocery market over the past month with record-breaking temperatures, a bank holiday weekend and Royal Wedding fever all contributing to a bumper period.

“The Friday before the day of the wedding and the FA Cup Final experienced a particularly noticeable spike in sales, with grocers clocking in £415 million over the 24 hours.

“The festivities and warm weather encouraged shoppers to fire up the barbeque. Over the past month, sales of burgers and sausages rose by 39 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, while non-alcoholic beer sales jumped by 64 per cent. “Meanwhile, over 16.6 million households chose to pick up an ice cream as temperatures soared. The hot weather also saw sensible Brits making a beeline for the sun care section, with sales rocketing by 64 per cent on this time last year.”

Morrisons performed particularly well over the past 12 weeks. Its sales growth of 2.9 per cent is ahead of the overall market.

Mr Hayward added: “Morrisons has been enjoying a successful run of form. The retailer has now celebrated 19 consecutive periods of sales growth and has held market share at 10.5 per cent.

“The supermarket succeeded in attracting an additional 311,000 new shoppers through its doors. Morrisons saw its alcohol sales increase by almost 8%, while the relaunch of the grocer’s own-label line ‘Savers’ also contributed to overall performance.

“With year-on-year sales growth of 2.8 per cent, Asda is also performing ahead of the grocery market. The retailer continues to prove popular with young families, while an increase in spend per trip – up £0.56 to £26.88 on average – has helped buoy sales. Asda’s e-commerce offering is also proving a winner among shoppers – the grocer’s online channel saw sales rise by 7.6 per cent year-on-year.”