Tesco surges ahead in supermarkets battle

Supermarket giants Asda and Sainsbury’s continued to slug it out for share of the UK grocery market today.

Market research firm TNS Worldpanel said Asda clung on to the number-two spot with a 16.4% slice of the market in the 12 weeks to May 21 while Sainsbury’s took 16%.

But despite year-on-year growth of 4% at Asda and 5% at Sainsbury’s, both firms lagged well behind Tesco, which increased its market share to an all-time high of 31.1% with an annual growth rate of 8%.

It signalled a further widening of the gap on Asda and Sainsbury’s, which have been locked in a battle for second place for months.

TNS director of research Edward Garner said: “The contest for number two grocery retailer is remarkably hotly fought.”

The latest figures show that Sainsbury’s has closed the gap on Asda from a year ago when it controlled 15.8% of the market compared with Asda’s 16.4%.

But the quarter-on-quarter figures showed that Asda increased its lead over Sainsbury’s with a rise from 16.3% of the market in the 12 weeks to April 23 back to 16.4% while Sainsbury’s remained at 16%.

It came as Asda recorded its best year-on-year growth rate for 16 months thanks to aggressive price cuts which boosted market share.

Elsewhere, Morrisons took an 11.3% share of the market compared with 11.2% last month but down from 11.9% a year ago.