Asda’s market share at lowest since 2006 as discounters claim 10%
ASDA’S market share is at its lowest point in a decade as the German discounters claim 10% of the UK market for the first time.
The Big Four supermarkets continue to be squeezed by Aldi and Lidl, which have increased their combined share by 1.5% in the last year, according to figures from industry analysts Kantar.
Lidl’s market share reached a new record high of 4.4%, increasing by 0.7 percentage points on last year thanks to a sales growth of 19%. Aldi grew sales by 16.5%, keeping its market share at 5.6% for the fifth consecutive month.
Yorkshire’s two headquartered supermarkets, Asda and Morrisons, continue to struggle in the face of this sustained competition during the period, which measured the 12 weeks to November 8.
Asda and Morrisons’ market share, Nov 2005 – Nov 2015 (source: Kantar)
Sales fell at the rest of the major retailers – at Tesco they were down by 2.5% while Morrisons saw sales fall by 1.7%. With a raft of recent announcements including a range reduction and increasing click-and-collect opportunities in its stores, Asda will be looking to improve upon its decline of 3.5% in the coming weeks.
Asda has slipped behind Sainsbury’s in the battle for second place, and now has 16.4% of the £2bn-a-week sector. It is its lowest market share since 2006.
Morrisons recorded 10.8% for the third period in four.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “If you look back as recently as 2012 Aldi and Lidl only held a 5% share of the market, and it had previously taken them nine years to double their combined share from 2.5%.
“In the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while average spend per trip has increased by 4% to £18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average.
“The discounters show no sign of stopping and with plans to open hundreds of stores between them, they’ll noticeably widen their reach to the British population.”
