Sainsbury’s medal-winning showing as Paralympic sponsorship pays off

SAINSBURY’s, Britain’s third-biggest grocer, was rewarded with a 5.6 per cent boost in sales and growth in its share of the market on the back of its high-profile sponsorship of the London Paralympic Games, industry data showed yesterday.

Sales were also strong at upmarket food retailer Waitrose, which reached a record 4.7 per cent of the market, according to the research from Kantar Worldpanel.

The quarterly report, which measured supermarket shopping in the 12 weeks to 30 September, also showed discounters such as Aldi and Lidl nipping at the market share of the traditional retailers. Aldi grew sales 25 per cent in the 12-week period to take a 2.9 per cent share of the market, while Lidl trailed with a 10.8 per cent boost in sales to a 2.7 per cent share.

The loser in the latest figures from Kantar was Morrisons, which lost 0.4 of a percentage point of its share of the grocery market. Sales fell 0.9 per cent at the Co-op.

Kantar said the UK grocery market as a whole grew 3.9 per cent, above its inflation measure of 2.6 per cent, meaning that there is growth in food sales despite a background of consumer belt-tightening. Sainsbury’s increased its share of the UK grocery market to 16.5 per cent from 16.2 per cent a year ago.

Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, said Sainsbury’s “sponsorship of the Paralympic games has clearly borne fruit”.

Market leader Tesco achieved sales growth of 3.3 per cent over the 12 weeks, with its share edging down 0.2 percentage points to 31 per cent.