Aldi’s rise continues says grocery data
BARGAIN hungry shoppers have flocked to discount supermarkets in such numbers that Aldi has overtaken Waitrose to become the country’s sixth largest grocery chain.
The German discount retailer’s sales rose by 16.8% in the first three months of this year to £1.34bn according to figures from Kantar WorldPanel, the market research agency.
Aldi elbowed Waitrose, the John Lewis Partnership’s grocery brand, out of sixth-place and now has The Co-operative Group, in fifth place firmy in its sights.
In the 12 weeks to March 29, Tesco had 28.4% of the market, Asda, 17.1%, Sainsbury’s 16.4%, Morrisons 10.9% and the Co-op 6%. Aldi now has 5.3%, Waitrose is next on 5.1% followed by Lidl with 3.7%.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Aldi has recorded double digit sales growth for the past four years and is now Britain’s sixth largest supermarket .
“Growth has been fuelled by over half a million new shoppers choosing to visit Aldi this year and average basket sizes increasing by 7%.”
The Co-op and Asda were the main losers in the period with sales falling 1.7% and 1.1% respectively. Sales at Morrisons, which has just appointed ex-Tesco director David Potts as its new chief executive fell 0.7%. Sainsbury’s lifted its sales 0.2%.
