Discounters continue to eat into share of '˜big four'

In good news for consumers, like-for-like grocery prices dropped by 1.4 per cent on last year as supermarket sales fell by 0.2 per cent, Kantar Worldpanel said.

Aldi and rival Lidl achieved a record share of the grocery market. Picture: Michael Gillen

The decline, which dates back to summer 2014, is primarily a result of the fierce price war leading to cheaper everyday groceries. Almost three fifths of Britons visited either Lidl or Aldi in the past 12 weeks, leading to them claiming a 4.4 per cent and 6.1 per cent share of the market and increasing sales by 13.8 per cent and 11.5 per cent on a year ago respectively.

Each of the big four lost market share on last year, with overall sales at Tesco dipping 1.3 per cent and Morrisons falling by 2.4 per cent as an ongoing result of closures. Sainsbury’s sales fell 1.4 per cent and Asda saw a 5.9 per cent drop.