Nielsen 12 w.e 14th September 2013 - 4 in 10 households visit discounters for grocery shopping

 

In the four weeks to mid-September, almost 40% of households in the UK shopping for groceries visited Aldi or Lidl, helping the discounters to continue gaining share at the expense of the major supermarkets, according to latest retailer performance figures released by Nielsen. .

Aggregate sales value growth for the leading supermarkets during the four weeks ending 14 September 2013 was up 2.1% year-on-year. For the previous four-week period (ending 17 August 2013), year-on-year sales value growth was up 1.4%.

Unit sales (volume) decreased 1.5% year-on-year, compared to a 1.8% decrease year-on-year during the previous four weeks.

Explaining the figures, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight Mike Watkins said: “Although September got off to a good start, sales growths weakened when compared to the moderately successful period involving last summer’s Paralympic Games. This suggests that sustained sales momentum remains elusive for many retailers and will continue to do so until the next wave of promotional activity.”

Meanwhile, Nielsen research found that TV and press advertising spend by the 10 leading supermarkets in the four weeks ending 14 September was down 2.6% over the same period a year ago to £21.0m. Watkins noted: “Many supermarkets continued to reinforce their price message, such as highlighting ‘back to school’ offers and fuel savings. Although TV and press spend was down, overall, Tesco doubled spend to over £5m to support their new Love Every Mouthful campaign.”

Despite the slower market, the more premium end of the market continued to outperform the overall sector with Waitrose sales up 9.0%, M&S up 7.0%, and Sainsbury’s up 5.2% in the 12 weeks ending 14 September.

Aldi (+21.1% value year-on-year) and Lidl (+7.4%) continued to gain market share in the 12 weeks ending 14 September at the expense of the leading players – Sainsbury being the only one of the top four to increase market share year-on-year.

Commenting on retailer performance, Watkins added: “Almost 40% of households shopping for groceries in the last four weeks visited at least one of the two leading discounters – Aldi or Lidl. Many British shoppers are now using these retailers as part of their regular shopping trips, and this is impacting the FMCG market share of some of the major supermarkets.

“This trend may well continue as almost two-thirds of British consumers (according to a Nielsen survey) have changed spending habits to save money, and many shoppers anticipate a need to do so even when the economy finally improves.”

NamNews - Thursday 26th September 2013