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The latest share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 8
July 2012 show the grocery market growth rate falling back to 2.1% compared with
4.2% a year ago as cash-strapped consumers responded to the tough economic
conditions, shifting spend to discounters Aldi and Lidl and away from the
premium sector.
Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “We are seeing big
cutbacks by consumers as they continue to respond to this current period of
austerity. The success of the discounters, Aldi and Lidl, is a clear example of
shoppers watching their purses, with both retailers continuing to surge ahead.
Once again, they both achieve all-time record shares of 2.9% and remarkable
growth of 26.1% for Aldi and 11.5% for Lidl. Similarly, although Waitrose is
still growing at over double the rate of the whole market, this growth has
fallen back to 4.8% from 7.5% last period − suggesting there are signs that the
premium sector is beginning to slow.
“Another sign of austerity making an impact is the decline of the premium own
label sector. Premium own label products have been in continuous growth since
2008, despite often being more expensive than their brand equivalent. Now;
however, they are declining by 6% year-on-year, while economy own labels such as
Tesco’s Everyday Value are growing at 13%.”
Among the big four supermarkets, fortunes continued unchanged with market share
growth for Asda and Sainsbury’s and share dips for Tesco and Morrisons.
Meanwhile, frozen food continued to be the top-growing food sector, as consumers
looked to reduce waste, helping drive growth at Iceland.
Kantar Worldpanel also said that by its measurement (75,000 identical products
compared year-on-year), grocery inflation was 3.8% for the 12-week period,
continuing a downward trend from a November 2011 peak of 6.2% and reflecting
lower inflation for fresh produce and falling milk prices. Official ONS data on
Tuesday showed overall inflation in the UK fell to 2.4% in June, its lowest in
more than 2-1/2 years.
These findings are based on Kantar Worldpanel
data for the 12 weeks to 8 July 2012. Kantar Worldpanel monitors the household
grocery purchasing habits of 30,000 demographically representative households in
Great Britain. All data discussed in the above announcement is based on the
value of items being bought by these consumers.
NamNews - Wednesday 18th July 2012
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