Grocery sales rose 7.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to September 7, according to the TNS Worldpanel grocery market share figures, as inflation fuelled sales.

Food price inflation increased 9 per cent on the same period last year.

Discount supermarkets continued to benefit from price-sensitive shoppers. Aldi and Lidl posted rises of 20.8 per cent and 11.1 per cent respectively.

Customers are also being enticed by low-price offers by frozen food retailer Iceland. Its “75p Freezer Essentials” campaign helped it achieve market-beating growth of 12.9 per cent.

At the big four, trends largely continued as before. Tesco and Sainsbury’s share dipped slightly at 6.7 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively, but Asda and Morrisons recorded 9 per cent growth.

Waitrose’s year-on-year growth of 3.2 per cent was held back by the present economic climate, with its share down 0.1 points to 3.8 per cent.

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