Aldi continues sales surge as Morrisons pressure mounts

The German discounter grew sales 27.3% year-on-year in the 12 weeks to November 25 while Morrisons’ growth slowed 1.1% as it continued to struggle against strong competition and tough comparatives, according to Kantar Worldpanel data.

Aldi intends to open another 40 stores in 2013 which will bring its total to over 500. Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips has admitted the retailer has failed to translate its points of difference to customers effectively.

Tesco trailed its rivals,with sales growing 2.2% in the period behind Asda at 2.7% and Sainsbury’s at 4.7%. Waitrose continued to perform strongly, growing by 7.5%, as did Iceland and Lidl at 9.2% and 11% respectively.

However, The Co-operative’s sales growth fell back 0.5% while Farm Foods continued to lose ground, down 5.2%.

The grocery market as a whole is growing at 3.5% in line with the eight month average.

Kantar Worldpanel director Edward Garner said: “The strong performances from Waitrose, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl continue to be a key feature of the grocery market. In particular, the advance of Aldi continues unabated and its 27.3% growth is being built on a solid foundation with 10% more shoppers than a year ago and 17% growth in the value of each shopping basket.” 

“Sainsbury’s is once again the top performer of the big four and has beaten the market with year-on-year growth of 4.7%. While the other big three retailers all experience share losses, it has managed to lift its share from 16.7% last year to 16.9% now.”

He added: “These share losses are particularly acute for Morrisons which has experienced a sales decline of 1.1%, bringing its share down from 12.3% a year ago to 11.7% now. The online grocery channel is currently growing at nearly 20% per annum, and Morrisons’ absence from this channel will be holding it back.”