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LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) - UK grocery sales grew at the
fastest rate since comparable records began in 1994 as Britons
adapted their behaviour in the national lockdown, industry data
showed on Wednesday.
Market researcher Kantar said total UK grocery sales rose
14.3% to 31.4 billion pounds ($38.6 billion) in the 12 weeks to
May 17 - a period which includes both the pre-lockdown rush to
the shops in March, and eight weeks of stay-at-home advice from
the government.
Britain has been in lockdown since March 23, though
restrictions are being gradually eased.
The sales increase reflects the shift in demand from the
out-of-home market, with pubs, cafes and restaurants closed in
the lockdown, to at-home food consumption.
Of Britain's big four grocers, industry leader Tesco
was the best performer with sales up 12.7%, followed by
No. 2 Sainsbury's with a 12.5% increase. No. 4
Morrisons' sales rose 9.8%, while Walmart-owned
Asda was the laggard with a 6.5% increase.
The overall star performers were the Co-operative, the No. 6
player, with a sales increase of 30.8%, and online grocer Ocado
, with a rise of 32.5%. And while discounter Aldi's
sales rose 10.4% it did see a loss of market share.
Kantar said that in the most recent four-week period to May
17, sales growth accelerated to 17.2% year-on-year as the
government announced the first easing of lockdown restrictions.
In the four weeks, the trend towards fewer, larger shops
evident in April continued. Kantar said shoppers visited a
supermarket 3.5 times per week on average, meaning 100 million
fewer trips overall than the same month last year, and increased
their spending each trip to 27.41 pounds ($33.7) – nearly 50%
more than during pre-crisis times.
Separately on Wednesday, rival market researcher Nielsen
highlighted record online grocery spending.
Market share and sales growth (%)
12 wks to 12 wks to pct change
May 17, 2020 May 19, 2019 in sales
Tesco 26.9 27.3 12.7
Sainsbury's 15.0 15.2 12.5
Asda 14.1 15.2 6.5
Morrisons 10.0 10.4 9.8
Aldi 7.7 8.0 10.4
Co-operative 7.0 6.1 30.8
Lidl 5.9 5.8 16.5
Waitrose 5.0 5.1 12.5
Iceland 2.4 2.1 28.6
Ocado 1.6 1.3 32.5
Source: Kantar
($1 = 0.8136 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young, Larry King)
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