Supermarkets Asda and Morrisons keep on track despite upheaval

The UK’s supermarkets have seen the highest sales growth in five years, with Morrisons continuing on track and Asda seeing growth in branded products.

Supermarket sales growth accelerated to 5.0% – the strongest increase since March 2012 – and a stark contrast to the decline of 0.2% seen this time last year.

Asda was reportedly the only retailer to see branded products growing ahead of own label, according to analysis from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to 18 June.

Tesco and Waitrose have both posted the highest sales growth since 2012, and Amazon’s potential purchase of Whole Foods has brought fresh focus to online shopping.

Co-op has seen continuous growth for two full years, up 2.2% in the latest period, similarly sales growth at Iceland, for the past 15 periods, and Waitrose saw its best sales growth since March 2012, growing marginally ahead of the market at 5.3%.

Yorkshire’s supermarkets haven’t fared quite that well, but Morrisons achieved the strongest sales performance of the big four grocers.

Asda’s recent recovery continues, as Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, explained : “Asda is the only retailer where branded products are outpacing own label lines – significant for the grocer given it sells a greater proportion of brands than many of its rivals. That isn’t to say Asda’s own label offer is struggling – its Extra Special premium line and recently launched Farm Stores range contributed to a 1.4% increase in private label sales. Overall sales rose by 2.2%, although its market share fell half a percentage point year-on-year to 15.1%.”

Lidl has pipped Aldi to the title of the UK’s fastest growing supermarket for the first time since March, with sales growth of 18.8% just ahead of the latter’s 18.7%.

McKevitt finished: “The market’s robust performance this period is partly down to particularly weak sales growth last year and a continuing increase in like-for-like grocery inflation, which is now running at 3.2%. At this rate, that’s an extra £133 on the average household’s annual shopping bill, or the equivalent of seven additional shopping trips a year.”