Sainsbury’s reclaims second spot on grocery ranking

The Kantar grocery market share figures show that Sainsbury’s secured a 15.4% share of the grocery market in the 12 weeks to April 21 despite the supermarket chain’s sales falling 1.2%.

Sainsbury’s share was marginally ahead of Asda’s 15.2% , after it recorded a 0.3% sales uplift during the period.

Across the sector overall sales rose 2%, driven by a record £2.5bn spent during the Easter week, marking the fastest rate of grocery sales growth so far in 2019.

Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said: “Shoppers indulged in £335m worth of Easter eggs and seasonal chocolate during the 12 weeks and the average household took home 10 such treats during the longer build-up from February to the holiday weekend.

“The warm weather over the Easter break helped boost sales of ice cream by 8% and hayfever remedies by 27% during the past four weeks as families made the most of the sunshine.”

Tesco came top in the ranking with 27.3% market share as sales increased 1%, although market share was down 0.3% year on year.

Aldi was the fastest-growing grocer during the period as sales surged 11.6%, driven by 823,000 additional customers, taking the discounter’s overall market share to 7.9%.

Fellow discounter Lidl recorded sales growth of 8.6%, increasing its market share 0.3% year on year to 5.7%.

Alongside the discounters, Co-op and Ocado were the only grocers to record increased market share year on year, up 6.1% and 1.3% respectively.

“Co-op has been able to capitalise on periods of warmer weather as people shop closer to home and, with a 4.5% increase during the past 12 weeks, it has now grown sales continuously for a full year. Its ‘Irresistible’ range, especially crisps, snacks, biscuits and pizzas, proved particularly popular and sales were up 11% on last year.

“The convenience retailer continues to perform well when it comes to small shopping baskets, accounting for 17% of all trips where people spend less than £20,” McKevitt said.