• Tesco sales fall of 1% is smallest of big four 
  • Sainsbury’s suffer from impact of change to promotional stategy
  • Co-op sales up 3.3%
  • Waitrose gains highest-ever market share (5.3%) after sales up 2.1%

Tesco is showing further signs of stabilising with the smallest quarterly sales decline of the big four, latest Kantar figures reveal.

Kantar data June

Sales at Tesco in the 12 weeks to May 22 slid 1% to £7.2bn, compared to a 1.3% drop in the last Kantar update.

At rival Sainsbury’s, sales dropped 1.2% to £4.14bn, as it moved its emphasis from multi-price deals to “straightforward price cuts”, Kantar said.

Asda’s poor run continued with sales falling 5.1%, while Morrisons posted a 2.1% decline.

Waitrose sale rose by 2.1%, helping it hit a record market share of 5.3%.

The Co-operative continued its strong run, posting a sales rise of 3.3% for the second period in a row, bringing its market share to 6.2%.

“94% of Aldi and Lidl shoppers still visit at least one of the four major retailers every four weeks.”

Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel

Total shopper numbers at the big four fell 0.2% in the quarter.

“What’s clear is that consumers aren’t flocking away from their stores,” said Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel.

“In fact, 94% of Aldi and Lidl shoppers still visit at least one of the four major retailers every four weeks.”

But he added: “Consumers’ spend is increasingly being shared with other growing outlets which also include Waitrose, the Co-operative and Iceland and average household spend for the big four has dropped by 2.9%.”

Lidl and Aldi remain the fastest growing grocers, as their sales in the quarter jumped by 14.2% and 11.4% respectively.

The grocery market remains essentially flat with value growth of 0.1%, as food price deflation is still 1.5%.

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