(qlmbusinessnews.com via cityam.com – – Tue, 6 Mar 2018) London, Uk – –
The supermarket sector can breathe a sigh of relief: it has managed to chalk up 12 consecutive quarters of above-three per cent growth, with each of the big four in positive territory over that time.
According to Kantar Worldpanel, grocery sales were up 3.2 per cent for the 12 weeks to 25 February.
Tesco and Morrisons were neck and neck as the fastest growing of the big four, with both registering sales growth of 2.7 per cent. Sales at Sainsbury's were up 1.1 per cent, while Asda grew 2.3 per cent, ts highest sales growth since June 2014.
However it was Aldi and Lidl that drove much of the wider growth, with Aldi growing sales 13.9 per cent with Lidl close behind with 13.3 per cent. The discounters benefited from increased shopper numbers as well as growth in basket size, Kantar said.
Co-op returned to growth for the first time since July 2017 with sales up 0.4 per cent. Iceland grew sales by 1.3 per cent, while Waitrose climbed a healthier 2.3 per cent. The John Lewis-owned supermarket has now experienced uninterrupted sales growth since March 2009. Ocado meanwhile increased market share by 0.1 percentage points to 1.2 per cent.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The grocery market remains in good health, spurred on by February festivities such as Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, which lend themselves to a focus on ready meals.
“Over the month, sales of chilled ready meals which form part of a meal deal jumped by 26 per cent as retailers offered customers the opportunity to wine and dine at home without the fuss, while Chinese ready meals also rose by more than a quarter.”
By Catherine Neilan
