Yorkshire’s supermarkets put in strong performance

Both of Yorkshire’s supermarkets have put on strong performances in the past 12 weeks.

Despite American owners Walmart declaring the 11th consecutive fall in sales for the group in May, Asda increased shopper numbers by more than 360,000 in the period.

It has also taken advantage of its own label growth – 1m more households bought Asda value own label products in the period than last year.

Morrisons again saw the best performance of the Big Four as well as achieving its sixth consecutive period of sales growth. Kantar said its premium own label range ‘The Best’ has been “key” to the retailer’s success.

Sales at the Bradford-based supermarket are up by more than a third on last year as nearly 800,000 additional shoppers bought the own label brand, with David Potts set for a major payout following the turnaround.

Overall sales grew by 3.8% year on year, the market’s best performance since September 2013, but Market heats up as Aldi and Lidl grow at fastest rate since 2015.

Chris Hayward, consumer specialist at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “The big four have collectively grown by 1.6% overall, while Aldi and Lidl together grew at their fastest rate since January 2015.

“Consumers are starting to feel the pinch as prices continue to rise, with the average household spending an additional £27 on groceries during the past 12 weeks. That may not seem like much, but if inflation continues at its current rate over the course of a year that would mean an extra £119 spent on groceries per household.”

Tesco has increased sales by 1.8% year on year, attracting over 250,000 additional shoppers during the past 12 weeks and sales increased by 1.7% year on year for Sainsbury’s. Waitrose saw sales up 3.3% year on year, although its market share slipped slightly to 5.2%.