Frozen burger sales plummet amid horse meat scandal

Frozen ready meals declined by 13% in the four weeks to February 17 as lines were withdrawn and consumers shunned products.

Tesco’s market share stood at 29.7% in the 12 weeks to February 17 down from 30.1% last year and 30.4% in the 12 weeks to January 20 reported last month. Kantar attributed the drop to a money-off promotion run last year and not this year, rather than as a result of the horse meat scandal.

Tesco’s sales grew 2.4% in the latest 12-week period, behind the grocery market average at 3.7%.

Sainsbury’s, which has not been implicated in the horse meat crisis, was the strongest performer of the big four grocers as its sales grew 4.6% and it attained a 17% market share.

Asda sales grew 3.1% while Morrisons sales fell 1.3% in the 12 week period. Aldi continued to be the strongest performer in the market, recording a 30.1% surge in sales.

Kantar data leaked to Retail Week shows Tesco’s sales fell 0.4% in the four weeks to February 17 while Morrisons’ performance improved to a 0.7% fall. Asda grew 5% while Sainsbury’s grew 5.8% in the shorter period.

Kantar Worldpanel director Edward Garner said: “The issue has so far only affected the performance of individual markets rather than where consumers are choosing to shop. 

“It might seem natural to attribute [Tesco’s market share] decline to the horsemeat contamination; however, Tesco undertook heavy promotions this time last year, where consumers received a £5 voucher when they spent £40, and not repeating this offer will have adversely affected its share.”

He added: “Waitrose and Aldi deliver all-time record shares this period of 4.8% and 3.3% respectively indicating that market polarisation and the ‘two nations’ consumer climate continues. Iceland records 10.1% growth confirming that the frozen food category as a whole remains robust.”

The total grocery market is growing at an annual rate of 3.7% behind grocery price inflation of 4.3%. 

Full Kantar Worldpanel data below: