Discounters grab 10% of British grocery market

Aldi now has a 5.6% share of the UK grocery market

Research from Kantar Worldpanel revealed Aldi has a 5.6 per cent share of the market, having grown its sales by 16.5 per cent over the past year.

Fellow German-owned chain Lidl saw its takings jump by 19 per cent, giving it 4.4 per cent of total grocery spending in the 12 weeks to 8 November.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “If you look back as recently as 2012, Aldi and Lidl only held a 5 per cent share of the market, and it had previously taken them nine years to double their combined share from 2.5 per cent.

“In the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while average spend per trip has increased by 4 per cent to £18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average.”

He added: “The discounters show no sign of stopping and with plans to open hundreds of stores between them, they’ll noticeably widen their reach to the British population.”

The rise of Aldi and Lidl has come at the expense of Britain’s big four supermarkets, of which Sainsbury’s was the only one to grow sales in the past three months, registering a 1.5 per cent according to Kantar’s research.

Market leader Tesco suffered a 2.5 per cent decline, while Asda’s sales dropped by 3.5 per cent and Morrisons was down 1.7 per cent.

McKevitt said: “Sainsbury’s performance means it has once again regained its position as Britain’s second-largest supermarket, pushing ahead of Asda in the latest 12 weeks.

“The food-focused retailer traditionally increases its market share over Christmas, so we can expect to see it keep hold of second place for the time being.”