Sainsbury’s on song as the star supermarket

SAINSBURY’S received a boost yesterday ahead of the festive rush as industry figures reinforced its position as the star performer among the “big four” supermarket players.

The group hiked its share of the overall grocery market, from 16.7 per cent to 16.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to 25 November after notching up the highest sales growth of the UK’s four largest chains, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Sainsbury’s rang up year-on-year sales growth of 4.7 per cent.

Asda’s market share edged down from 17.5 per cent a year ago to 17.3 per cent, while Tesco saw its share decline from 31 per cent to 30.7 per cent.

Analysts predict more bad news today, when Tesco’s third-quarter trading update reveals a sluggish UK performance.

Smaller rival Morrisons also endured another testing quarter, with its market share trailing at 11.7 per cent, down from 12.3 per cent a year earlier, Kantar added.

Researchers also highlighted a particularly strong performance from discounter Aldi, whose sales rise of 27.3 per cent gave it a market share of 3 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent.

Kantar director Edward Garner said Morrisons was being held back by its absence from online grocery retailing.

“However, it is expected that online wine sales via Morrisons cellar will make a start on addressing this,” he added.

Sainsbury’s has been helped by its Paralympics sponsorship.