Promotions push sees Tesco increase share of market

Market researcher Kantar WorldPanel said Tesco’s share of the UK grocery market rose to 30.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to April 15.

This was an improvement on the 30.2 per cent share reported in March and the seven-year low of 29.7 per cent reported in February, but the figure was down on the 30.9 per cent reported in April 2011.

Leeds-based Asda saw its market share grow from 17 per cent to 17.6 per cent year on year, flattered by its purchase of 147 Netto stores.

Third-place Sainsbury’s held its share at 16.6 per cent.

Bradford-based Morrisons dipped from 12.1 per cent to 11.9 per cent year on year.

The company claims its lack of new store openings has skewed the figures. High-end grocer Waitrose grew its share from 4.3 per cent to 4.5 per cent year on year.

The discount retailers fared well, with Aldi growing from 2.2 per cent to 2.7 per cent and Lidl rising from 2.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

Iceland lifted its share from 1.9 per cent to two per cent.

The January profits warning was Tesco’s first in over 20 years.

Last month the world’s third largest retailer parted company with its UK chief executive Richard Brasher as group chief executive Philip Clarke took over responsibility for reviving the core UK business.

Last week Tesco outlined a plan to revive its UK business by spending over £1bn on recruiting more staff, improving stores and boosting online shopping.

Kantar said market growth of five per cent was the highest since January 2010, but was mainly fuelled by food price inflation rather than real volume increases.