The grocery market has not expanded in the past year, according to figures for the 12 weeks to 11th August from Kantar.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “The memory of last year still looms large for retailers and this summer’s comparatively poor weather, combined with low levels of like-for-like price rises, have made growth hard to find for retailers.
“July’s hottest day on record wasn’t enough to shift the market into growth, but the grocers will have been encouraged by glimpses of better weather during the past four weeks which helped boost sales of summer staples like hayfever remedies, suncare and burgers by 17 per cent, 8 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.”
Lidl’s sales increased by 7.7 per cent and the discounter reached a record market share of 5.9 per cent during the past 12 weeks. Sales at Aldi increased by 6.2 per cent.
Ocado claimed the top spot as the UK’s fastest growing grocer, increasing sales by 12.6 per cent this period.
Co-op also found growth: sales are 0.2 per cent higher compared with a year ago.
Sainsbury’s accounted for 15.4 per cent of supermarket sales this period. McKevitt said: “While each of the big four lost share, Sainsbury’s will be cheered to be the strongest performer among this cohort for the first time since November 2017.”
Asda and Tesco’s sales shrunk by 1.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.
