Budget supermarkets the winners in wake of Morrisons sales dip

The two brands took a 7.1 per cent share over the 12 weeks to January 5 compared to 5.8 per cent the year before, with Aldi increasing total sales to more than £1bn.

Data from Kantar Worldpanel confirmed Bradford-based Morrisons as the big loser in the sector as it was the only business to see a fall in total sales. Its delay in launching an online operation saw it miss out on a web ordering surge that propped up its rivals.

Edward Garner, the director at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “Among the big four, only Sainsbury’s was able to resist the relentless pressure from the discounters and Waitrose. Now catching up with Asda, it managed to hold share and out-perform the market with year-on-year growth of 3.1 per cent.”

Total grocery sales were up 2.9 per cent but Waitrose again showed its success in luring higher-spending shoppers by beating the figure with a 6.4 per cent improvement and taking its market share 0.1 per cent higher to 4.8 per cent.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s also muscled in on the premium market as their Finest and Taste the Difference brands strongly outperformed their value ranges. The two retailers were also buoyed by double-digit growth in their convenience stores.

Of the big four grocers, only Sainsbury’s held its own in market share, which remained at 17.1 per cent and helped it draw neck-and-neck in the rivalry to be Britain’s second biggest supermarket with Asda, which saw its slice fall from 17.5 per cent to 17.1 per cent.

Tesco, still the largest by a distance, fell from 30.4 per cent to 29.6 per cent as it managed only a 0.2 per cent increase in sales. But Morrisons dipped from 12 per cent to 11.5 per cent as total sales fell by one per cent. The Bradford-based retailer, which only launched its online deliveries on Friday, missed out on the UK’s 22 per cent increase in internet grocery sales over the period, with 15 per cent of households placing orders.

Meanwhile, Aldi’s market share climbed by nearly a third from 3.1 per cent to four per cent as sales rose 29.4 per cent to £1.08bn in the period. Lidl’s share increased from 2.7 per cent to 3.1 per cent, with revenues up 17.5 per cent to £528m. The data also indicated an easing in pressures on household budgets with grocery price inflation standing at 2.5 per cent, the lowest since October 2012.

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