Tesco Top Performer Among U.K. Grocers; Germans Gain Market Share, Survey Show
January 09 2018 - 5:10AM
Dow Jones News
By Adria Calatayud
Tesco was the top performer among the big four U.K. supermarkets
in the three months including the Christmas period, but major local
grocers continued to lose market share to German competitors,
surveys from Kantar Worldpanel and Nielsen showed Tuesday.
The average U.K. household spent a record 1,054 pounds ($1,429)
in the 12 weeks to Dec. 31, despite tightening budgets and economic
worries, Kantar said.
"Overall supermarket sales increased in value by 3.8%, with an
additional GBP1 billion ringing through the tills compared to the
same festive period last year. Shoppers parted with GBP747 million
on 22 December alone, making the Friday before Christmas the
busiest shopping day ever recorded," said Fraser McKevitt, head of
retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.
Sales at Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN), the U.K.'s No. 1 grocer by market
share, grew by 3.1% in the 12 weeks ended Dec. 31, the fastest pace
it has recorded since June. However, its market share fell by 0.2
percentage points year on year to 28% in the period.
At the other end of the scale, German retailers Aldi and Lidl
both increased sales by 16.8% in the three months to Dec. 31.
Aldi's market share rose to 6.8% from 6.0%, while Lidl's increased
to 5.0% from 4.4%, Kantar said. The combined market share of the
two German supermarkets stood at 11.8%, up from 10.4% a year
earlier, attracting nearly one million additional households during
the period, Kantar added.
J Sainsbury PLC's (SBRY.LN) market share fell by 0.3 percentage
points to 16.4%, despite sales growing 2% in the period, Kantar
reported.
Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), saw its market
share decline to 15.3% from 15.5%, with sales up 2.2% in the three
months to Dec. 31. Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC's (MRW.LN) market
share fell to 10.7% from 10.9%, although sales rose 2.1%.
The market share of up-market retailer Waitrose, a division of
John Lewis Partnership PLC, stood at 5.2% in the 12 weeks ended
Dec. 31, as sales increased by 2.3% in, Kantar said.
Kantar monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of
30,000 demographically representative households in the U.K.
Separately, a survey by Nielsen Homescan also showed Aldi and
Lidl growing market share. For the 12 weeks ended Dec. 30, Aldi's
market share rose to 7.5% from 6.9% for the comparable period ended
Dec. 31, 2016, while Lidl's rose to 4.9% from 4.4%.
According to Nielsen, Tesco recorded the largest sales of the
big four U.K. supermarkets in their busiest period of the year and
had the most improved performance over the final 12 weeks of
2017.
However, Tesco's market share has dropped to 27.5% in the 12
weeks ended Dec. 30, unchanged from the comparable period a year
earlier, while Sainsbury's fell to 15.5% from 15.8%, Asda fell to
14.2% from 14.4% and Morrisons fell to 10.2% from 10.4%, Nielsan
data showed.
Write to Adria Calatayud at
adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 09, 2018 04:55 ET (09:55 GMT)
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