Aldi, Lidl and Co-op take market share from big four UK supermarkets in run-up to Christmas

Tesco and Sainsbury’s lose ground as supermarkets get ready for recordbreaking festive period

Ben Chapman
Tuesday 11 December 2018 11:24 GMT
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The Co-op grew its market share by 4.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to 2 December
The Co-op grew its market share by 4.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to 2 December

The Co-op, Aldi and Lidl are outpacing the UK’s big four supermarkets in the run-up to the crucial Christmas period, according to new data.

Co-op grew its market share by 4.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to 2 December, while the UK’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco, was down 0.1 per cent, and Sainsbury’s market share fell by 0.2 per cent.

Discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to take chunks out of their bigger, more established rivals with a 12.2 per cent and 11.2 per cent expansion of market share respectively, a report from Kantar Worldpanel found.

British supermarkets are bracing for recordbreaking Christmas sales despite doom and gloom on the high street with hundreds of shops having closes and thousands of jobs being axed.

Sales of seasonal favourites jumped in November with more than one in eight households having already bought a Christmas pudding, while sales of boxed chocolate and brussels sprouts have reached £292m and £18m respectively.

Shoppers have been helped by a welcome fall in grocery price inflation, from 3.2 per cent to 1.6 per cent, easing the squeeze on household budgets.

With Christmas Day falling on a Tuesday, Saturday 22 December is set to be the busiest shopping day of the year, said Kantar’s Fraser McKevitt.

“Because of the way Christmas falls, grocers have an extra trading day this year meaning overall sales in December – up to and including Christmas Eve – could reach £10bn.

“Despite an uncertain political climate taking its toll on consumer confidence, shoppers are still willing to spend that little bit extra on more expensive goods.

“Premium own-label lines are growing at 5.5 per cent, which could lead to record sales in this price tier of £1.1bn over the 12 week period.”

Overall, supermarket sales growth slipped to its slowest pace since March 2017 as consumers made less trips to the shops than they did over the hot summer.

Black Friday – which fell on 23 November – had little impact on supermarkets but saw footfall to entertainment, toy and electrical retailers nearly double.

Westfield shopping centres continued the positive numbers into this month with a bumper weekend, over 7-9 December, of 827,000 visitors at its two London locations.

The three days saw 14 per cent more visitors than on the same weekend last year, owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield revealed.

The company is looking forward to an “extremely busy end to the festive period in 2018”, said chief marketing officer for Europe, Myf Ryan.

Meanwhile, Marks and Spencer was named top food retailer in a survey on brand loyalty, with 57 per cent of shoppers saying they had always had a positive experience there.

Tesco was second, followed by Aldi in third place, the poll by Sodexo Engage found.

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