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LONDON (Alliance News) - The UK grocery market recorded three years of consecutive sales growth, posting a modest 1.4% growth in the 12 weeks to June 16, data from Kantar showed Tuesday.
Kantar said the modest growth in the period was down to last year's bumper summer, which included soaring temperatures and the build up to the men's Football World Cup. However, it noted that that UK grocery sales have now risen each year since July 2016.
"The modest level of current growth is thanks in no small part to the wet start to the summer, with last year's heatwave and the run up to the men's FIFA World Cup making 2018 a difficult year to top. These challenges are reflected in typical summer categories: in the past four weeks sales of ice cream were GBP15 million lower than this time last year, while beer is down GBP17 million and burgers GBP6 million," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
"However, even unseasonable clouds have a silver lining. Shoppers sought refuge from the cooler weather and spent more on traditional comfort foods, with fresh and tinned soup sales up by 8% and 16% respectively," McKevitt added.
German discounter Aldi attracted an additional 883,000 shoppers in the 12 week period, with sales up 9.3%. This helped the retailer to grow its market share to 7.9%, up by 0.5 percentage point on the year ago period.
Rival Lidl also enjoyed another strong period, with sales up by 7.5%, lifting its market share to 5.7% from 5.4%.
Aside from Aldi and Lidl, Co-op and online retailer Ocado posted market share gains, according to the latest Kantar grocery market survey.
Co-op commanded 6.2% of British grocery sales in the 12 week period, with its market share rising to 6.2% from 6.1%. Ocado was the UK’s fastest growing supermarket, with sales growth of 11.3% comfortably ahead of the overall e-commerce market at 6%. Its market share increased to 1.3% in the 12 weeks from 1.2% a year ago.
Frozen food specialist Iceland Foods also recorded 0.6% growth in sales, although its market share slipped by 0.1 percentage point to 2.1%. Premium supermarket Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, saw flat sales rise, with its market share dipping to 5.0% from 5.1%.
Among the big four UK retailers, Tesco PLC saw flat sales in the period and its market share slipped to 27.3% from 27.7%.
Kantar attributed the flat sales performance at Tesco to growth in its value own-label lines like Eastman's and Redmere Farms and due to lower prices offered by its "100 Years of Great Value" campaign.
J Sainsbury PLC recorded a 0.6% drop in sales, though halving the rate of decline it registered in May, and its market share shrunk to 15.3% from 15.6%.
Walmart Inc-owned Asda's sales fell by 0.1%, though its online arm enjoyed double-digit growth of 10%. Asda's share of the overall market fell by 0.2 percentage point to 14.9%.
Sales for Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC decreased by 0.5%, lowering its market share of grocery sales to 10.4% from 10.6%.
Kantar said UK grocery inflation was 1.0% for the 12-week period. Prices increased fastest in markets such as crisps, bottled cola and dog food, while falling in instant coffee, fresh bacon and detergents.
Tesco shares were down 2.4% early Tuesday in London, while Morrisons shares were off 1.9%. Sainsbury's was flat, while Ocado slipped 0.3%.
