Tesco grabs record share of UK food sector

Tesco commands a record share of the British food retail sector after capturing further business from its supermarket rivals, new figures showed today.

Tesco accounted for 28.7% of all grocery sales in the UK during the 12 weeks to December 5 – up 2.2% on a year ago.

It gained ground from rivals such as Kwik-Save and Safeway which lost sales due to conversions and store closures, according to analysts TNS Superpanel.

Safeway was taken over by Morrisons in March and the market share of the combined group has hit a new low of 12.8%, falling 2% over the past year.

Further signs that Sainsbury’s is regaining some of the market share ceded to rivals emerged in the TNS figures.

Sainsbury’s now accounts for 15.6% of all supermarket sales on the back of a 0.1% rise in each of the past three surveys.

“Whilst not dramatic, it is still a considerable improvement on earlier share losses and reflects the focus on improving in-store availability,” Mr Garnier said.