Grocery sales rise as shoppers embrace Veganuary

Fresh produce performed well as customers embraced the Veganuary trend.

Tesco delivered the best overall performance among the big four, recording a sales advance of 1% – its fastest rate of growth since September 2018.

Tesco’s market share stood at 27.7% versus 27.9% in the comparable period the previous year.

Aldi achieved the highest sales growth in the market, with a 9.1% advance, giving it a market share of 7.5% versus 7% the previous year.

Sainsbury’s was the only multiple grocer to record a sales decline in the period – down 0.3%. Its market share fell from 16.3% to 15.9%.

Asda’s sales rose 0.7% and Morrisons’ 0.4%. Their market shares were slightly down to 15.3% and 10.6% respectively.

Lidl’s sales were up 7.3%, taking its market share from 5% to 5.3% year on year.

Other than the discounters, only the Co-op increased market share over the period. Its share increased 0.1 points to 5.9%.

Kantar Worldpanel head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said: “Looking back on 2018 as a whole, one of the most notable consumer trends is the shift to a more plant-based diet.

“Today, 1% of all households include a vegan, 5% have a vegetarian and 10% have flexitarians in their ranks. This has contributed to consumers eating a total of 4.4 billion meat-free dinners in 2018, an increase of 150 million meals on the year before.

“Following an indulgent Christmas period, health-conscious shoppers and Veganuary participants helped sales of fruit, vegetables and salad surge by £46m compared with January last year.”

He said 18.3 million households shopped in at least one of the discounters over the period, spending an average of £204 – up £8 year on year.