Tesco loses market share as more than half of Brits now shop at Aldi and Lidl

Tesco's rival Asda has eaten away at its market share, while more than half of Brits now shop at budget grocers Aldi and Lidl, according to Kantar Worldpanel figures. 

 

The data released this morning shows over the 12 weeks to 17 August, grocery price inflation has fallen for the 11th consecutive period and is currently at 0.2 per cent – the lowest level since records began in October 2006. 

 

Within this context, Tesco has seen its market share drop from 30.2 per cent last year to 28.8 per cent in 2014. 

 

While it is still by far the largest supermarket in the UK, Asda's market share has crept up from 17.1 per cent to 17. 2 per cent in the same period. Sainsbury's dropped by a marginal 0.3 per cent to take 16.4 per cent of the total consumer spend. 

 

Aldi and Lidl – which are still comparative minnows in the sector overall – experienced aggressive double-digit growth. 

 

Aldi increased its market share by nearly a third to 4.8 per cent – just behind Waitrose, which also grew to 4.9 per cent. Lidl, which has recently unveiled plans to launch a fashion line, jumped 18.3 per cent to take a 3.6 per cent slice of the pie. Kantar said 53 per cent of British households shopped at one of the discounters in the past 12 weeks. 

 

Morrisons and the Co-op both lost market share, accounting for 11 per cent and 6.4 per cent of the total respectively. Iceland was similarly down, dropping to 2 per cent of the total. 

 

Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel said: “Asda and Waitrose have achieved growth with differing strategies. Asda has pushed its “Price Lock” strategy to keep prices on everyday essential items low, while Waitrose is running competitive offers on home delivery alongside offers for myWaitrose card users allied to its overall quality and provenance positioning.”