Sales at supermarket chain Asda have been hit by growing business at both discount and upmarket rivals, according to new figures.
Data released by market research firm Kantar Wordpanel suggests Asda’s takings grew by just 2.1 per cent in the 12 weeks to June 13, compared to the 4.7 per cent growth in the wider market, causing its share of the UK grocery market to fall by 0.4 per cent to 16.9 per cent.
By contrast, sales at discount grocer Lidl soared by 17.9 per cent while Aldi saw sales rise by 17.6 per cent. Both increased their market shares by 0.3 per cent to record levels of 2.6 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively.
Kantar director Edward Garner said: “Discounters are attracting some new customers but most of their growth is coming from gaining a greater share of the household shopping list.”
“Customers are making a main shopping trip to their favourite store and this is then ‘topped up’ with selective shopping at the discounter – it has been dubbed ‘canny shopping ‘.”
At the other end of the market, affluent shoppers helped boost Waitrose sales by 8.9 per cent over the three months, taking its slice of the market up slightly to 4.3 per cent.
The Kantar figures showed that overall sales growth at UK supermarkets has slowed considerably over the last month, with shoppers cutting back on their spending due to rising fuel, food and energy costs.
Spending on groceries grew by 7.8 per cent over the four weeks to May 15 but dropped significantly to 2.5 per cent during the last four weeks.
