Aldi seizes record share of UK grocery market

Discount retailer Aldi clocked up a record share of the UK grocery market as under-pressure consumers flocked to lower-cost retailers, according to figures today.

The German-owned group notched up a market share of 3% in the 12 weeks to October 5 – the highest ever recorded by grocery analysts TNS Worldpanel.

Aldi’s sales rocketed by 22.1% as the group’s popularity grows amid a general consumer belt tightening, supported by a series of television adverts featuring TV chef Phil Vickery.

Fellow discount store Lidl also fared well with sales up 9.85, while Iceland’s sales raced 11.8% ahead.

But Tesco and Sainsbury’s continued to feel the heat from a switch to stores seen as less costly, with their market shares dropping by 0.4 percentage points to 31.4% and 0.1 points to 15.7% respectively.

Tesco saw sales growth slow to 5.5% – which TNS said effectively meant that sales fell when soaring food price inflation is taken into account.

TNS data showed that grocery food inflation raced ahead by 9.3% in the 12-week period, up again on the 9% seen the previous quarter.

However, the group said its data suggested food inflation had reached its peak, with growth beginning to slow on a month-by-month basis.

Official inflation figures today showed that the annual rise in the cost of living shot up again last month with the Consumer Prices Index now running at 5.2%.

Tesco is slashing prices in a bid to attract hard-pressed shoppers, slashing costs on hundreds of items and launching 350 new products.

The pressure on pockets has seen more upmarket store Waitrose hit particularly hard, with its market share falling one percentage point and sales growth of just 1.6% despite food price inflation, said TNS.

However, Morrisons and Asda’s sales have held up well in the flight to discounters, according to TNS, with sales growth in the 12-week period of 9.6% and 9% respectively.