Kantar to w.e 17th March 2013 - Sainsbury's, Aldi and Waitrose grow share but Morrisons and Tesco still losing ground

Latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 17 March 2013 show Sainsbury’s was the clear winner among the big four while elsewhere Waitrose and Aldi recorded the two highest percentage growth rates this period. Meanwhile, Tesco, the supermarket most heavily hit by the revelations of horse meat scandal, looks to be suffering from the furore as figures showed an ongoing depression in its market share. Morrisons, untarnished by the scandal, had been expected to benefit, although wider issues with its strategy still appear to be holding it back. Sainsbury’s year-on-year growth of 6.2% firmly beat the total market growth of 3.9%. Since 2004, its annual share has been on a rising trend and now stands at 16.8% for the 52 weeks ending 17 March. Market polarisation continued unabated with Waitrose and Aldi holding on to the record shares reported last month with growth rates of 12.5% and 30.8%. Fraser McKevitt, retail analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “Austerity and provenance are the key factors behind the varying retailer performances this month. Continued pressure on household budgets has helped Aldi, Lidl and Iceland to record market beating growths while Waitrose and Sainsbury’s have managed to mostly avoid adverse media coverage from the horse meat scandal.” Elsewhere in the big four, Asda held on to the record share of 17.9% it achieved a year ago, whilst Tesco’s share dipped from 30.2% to 29.4% and Morrisons was down from 12.3% to 11.7%. McKevitt said: "People haven't forgotten the scandal and frozen burger and ready-meal sales have still not recovered. However, there is certainly no overall spend decline from the horse meat scandal. If people don't want to buy processed meat, they are buying other proteins instead. "I suspect Tesco has been hit a little bit by it. It is the biggest retailer in the country and was scrutinised the most. Because of its size, there was always a good chance that if a product was affected, it would be selling it." He added: “Looking ahead, Tesco has responded with its Price Promise promotion which delivers coupons to shoppers at the tills and Morrisons has announced plans to plug its home-delivery gap during 2013. These strategies are expected to help boost the retailers’ performances going forward.” Meanwhile, by Kantar Worldpanel’s measure, grocery inflation stood at 4.2% for the 12 week. This remains higher than the market growth of 3.9% and reflects shoppers’ coping mechanisms such as switching products and retailers and seeking out offers.   These findings are based on Kantar Worldpanel data for the 12 weeks to 17 March 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. Source: NamNews - Wednesday 27th March 2013