Asda and Morrisons stand out performers during summer heatwave

Yorkshire grocers Asda and Morrisons were the stand out winners among the big four during the summer heatwave which saw shoppers spend nearly half a billion pounds more on keeping cool.
Asda. (D543K403)Asda. (D543K403)
Asda. (D543K403)

Asda saw sales rise 3.1 per cent over the 12 weeks to September 9, whilst Morrisons was hot on its heels with growth of 3.0 per cent, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel figures.

This was nearly double the growth of number two player Sainsbury’s, which saw sales rise 1.6 per cent.

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Spanning the World Cup kick off in June through to the August bank holiday, the figures show consumers spent £228m more on alcohol, £178m more on soft drinks and £74m more on ice cream.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The warm summer has been kind to the supermarkets’ convenience format stores as consumers shopped locally for drinks and barbecue supplies, collectively growing sales by 7.6 per cent compared to last year.

“Co-op was a particular beneficiary and increased sales by 8.5 per cent, its fastest rate since 2011. Tesco Express also benefited from shoppers staying close to home and performed especially well, contributing to total sales for Tesco rising 1.9 per cent.

“As speculation mounts over the launch of Tesco’s discount retailer Jack’s, it’s worth remembering how quickly rivals Aldi and Lidl have grown their market share. In the five years to September 2013 their combined market share increased by 2.4 percentage points to 6.8 per cent. This growth then accelerated and in the subsequent five years the two nearly doubled their share to its current level of 13.1 per cent.

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“While it is not yet known which lines Jack’s stores will carry, Tesco’s ‘Exclusively at’ brands such as Eastman’s and Creamfields are proving popular with shoppers. The own-label product lines launched earlier this year and accounted for £90m of sales over the past 12 weeks – finding their way into 16 per cent of Tesco shopping baskets.”