UK: Tesco’s Growth Outstrips Rivals Whilst Morrisons’ Worries Continue

NamNews - Wednesday 30th January 2013

Tesco’s recent recovery appears to be continuing with latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 20 January showing that it maintained its market share during the period and matched market growth (3.3%) for the first time since June 2011. . Having lagged behind its nearest rivals for much of 2012, Tesco’s growth exceeded that of Asda and Sainsbury’s, whilst Morrisons continued to falter. Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “These positive results are a sign of stabilisation for Tesco as the retailer gets back on track with its customers. However, this improvement has put some pressure on the rest of the big four with Morrisons in particular suffering a drop in sales and a share decline of 0.6 percentage points in the latest period.” The Bradford-based company is suffering from its lack of presence in the fast-growing parts of the grocery industry – sales from the internet and convenience stores – and is losing market share to the discount chains. The Kantar Worldpanel figures showed that the strongest growth recorded during this latest period was again at the discount and premium ends of the market. The Waitrose figures echo the record Christmas it reported, with strong year-on-year growth of 8%. Meanwhile, the discounters, particularly Aldi, lead the way in the first stage of 2013 – strongly out-performing the market with growth rates of 28.2% for Aldi and 10% for Lidl. Iceland holds on to the record 2.2% share reported last period. The Co-operative also showed signs of improved performance with the retailer recording a sales increase of 0.9%, in contrast to declines posted throughout 2012. Kantar Worldpanel also highlighted the widening gap between market growth, currently at 3.3%, and grocery price inflation (4.9%), which is causing a squeeze on shopping budgets. These findings are based on Kantar Worldpanel data for the 12 weeks to 20 January 2013. Kantar Worldpanel monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 30,000 demographically representative households in Great Britain. All data discussed in the above announcement is based on the value of items being bought by these consumers.