UPDATE 1-Britain's Eat Out scheme takes bite out of grocery sales growth

(Adds details, table)
LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Britain's grocery sales growth
slowed to 8.0% year-on-year in August, the lowest since April,
hurt by a state-funded scheme designed to get people to return
to pubs, cafes and restaurants during the COVID crisis, industry
data showed on Tuesday.
Market researcher Kantar said fewer meals eaten at home
meant UK shoppers spent 155 million pounds ($200 million) less
in supermarkets in August compared with July, as the "Eat Out to
Help out" scheme ran throughout the month and some aspects of
pre-pandemic life resumed.
“Grocery growth tailed off in August as the government’s Eat
Out to Help Out scheme got underway and people were encouraged
to return to offices and resume normal routines," said Fraser
McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
Over the 12 weeks to Sept. 6 grocery sales rose 10.8%, with
many households still working from home.
Kantar said online grocery sales rose 77% year-on-year in
August, bringing the cumulative increase in orders to 3.2
billion pounds ($4.1 billion) since lockdown began.
Online pioneer Ocado was the fastest growing grocer
over the 12-week period with sales up 41.2%.
Of Britain's big four supermarket groups, Morrisons,
the No. 4 player, was the best performer with sales up 12.9%.

Market leader Tesco saw growth of 10.5%, while
Sainsbury's sales were up 8.0%. Walmart owned
Asda was again the laggard with growth of 6.3%.
Sales at the Co-operative Group rose by 13.4%, but
increased by more than double that rate in northern England,
where local lockdowns meant consumers continued to shop closer
to home.
Kantar said grocery inflation over the 12 weeks was 2.3%,
with prices rising fastest in markets such as ice cream, colas
and fresh bacon while falling in fresh poultry, vegetables and
toilet tissues.

Market share and sales growth (%)
12 wks to 12 wks to pct change
Sept. 6 2020 Sept. 8 2019 in sales
Tesco 26.8 26.8 10.5
Sainsbury's 14.9 15.3 8.0
Asda 14.5 15.1 6.3
Morrisons 10.1 9.9 12.9
Aldi 8.0 8.1 10.0
Co-operative 6.8 6.6 13.4
Lidl 6.0 6.0 11.4
Waitrose 4.9 5.0 7.3
Iceland 2.4 2.2 20.8
Ocado 1.7 1.4 41.2
Source: Kantar

($1 = 0.7756 pounds)


(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young and Ed
Osmond)