British grocery sales dip as indoor hospitality reopens

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - British supermarket sales fell
1.6% in the 12 weeks to June 13 year-on-year as the re-opening
of indoor hospitality took spend away from the grocers and into
the nation’s cafés and restaurants, industry data showed on
Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar said, however, that sales in the
period were still 3.3 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) higher than
in 2019 before the pandemic hit.
It said Britons enjoyed the long awaited arrival of summer
in the latter four weeks of the period, with take-home sales of
alcohol increasing by 29 million pounds compared to May, despite
pubs and restaurants being open, helped by the May Bank Holiday
and the lead up to the European soccer championship which kicked
off June 11.
Of Britain's big four grocers, Sainsbury's, with
sales up 0.4% over the 12 weeks year-on-year, was the only one
to register growth.
Sales at market leader Tesco were down 0.8% and at
Asda and Morrisons, they were down 0.6% and 1.5%
respectively.
In contrast discounters Aldi and Lidl saw sales growth of
6.6% and 4.9% respectively, with Aldi's market share hitting
8.2%, matching its highest ever in March 2020.
Kantar said online sales accounted for the same proportion
of the market, 13.4%, in the four weeks to 13 June as they did
in last month's data set, suggesting the appetite for large
online shops is approaching a new baseline.
Kantar said grocery prices fell 1.9% over the 12 weeks. It
said prices are rising fastest in markets such as chocolate,
canned colas and savoury snacks while falling in fresh bacon,
toilet tissues and ambient cooking sauces.

Market share and sales growth (%)
12 weeks to 12 weeks to % change in
June 13, June 14, sales
2021 2020

Tesco 27.1 26.9 -0.8
Sainsbury's 15.2 14.9 0.4
Asda 14.1 13.9 -0.6
Morrisons 10.1 10.1 -1.5
Aldi 8.2 7.5 6.6
Co-operative 6.3 7.4 -15.8
Lidl 6.1 5.8 4.9
Waitrose 5.0 4.8 3.3
Iceland 2.3 2.5 -8.2
Ocado 1.8 1.7 5.4
Source: Kantar


($1 = 0.7178 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)