Lidl and Aldi reach 10% share of UK grocery market

Aldi and Lidl have reached a combined market share of 10% for the first time in the British grocery market,

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 8 November 2015 show that Lidl and Aldi’s sales were up 19% and 16.5% respectively on the same 12-week period last year.

Lidl’s market share reached a record high of 4.4%, while Aldi’s stayed at 5.6% for the fifth consecutive month.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “If you look back as recently as 2012, Aldi and Lidl only held a 5% share of the market, and it had previously taken them nine years to double their combined share from 2.5%.”

See also: Aldi praised for 100% British fresh meat policy

“In the past 12 weeks, the two retailers have attracted an additional one million shoppers compared with last year, while average spend per trip has increased by 4% to £18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average.”

Figures from Nielsen, also released today (Tuesday 17 November), showed the share of the German discounters could be even higher, with a combined UK share standing at 11.1%.

Aldi overtook Waitrose to become Britain’s sixth biggest supermarket in April this year, when it reached a market share of 5.3%.

Today, its market share of 5.6% remains 0.4% higher than that of Waitrose, which is 5.2%.

The discounters’ growth shows no signs of slowing, with plans to open hundreds of new stores across Britain.

The overall grocery market

Despite the launch of Christmas advertising, the overall market remains slow, with grocery inflation now at -1.7% for the 12-week period ending 8 November 2015.

Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe recently said that he expects this deflation to continue into the spring of 2016.

This inflation rate shows the effect of the German discounters, the competition in the market and deflation in some major categories, such as eggs, bread, crisps and fresh poultry, with shoppers now paying less for a representative basket of groceries than they did in 2014.

Where are the other supermarkets?

• Sainsbury’s has seen its fourth consecutive period of growth, with a sales increase of 1.5%. This is the first share gain registered by any of the “big four” since October 2014.
• Tesco sales were down 2.5%
• Morrisons sales fell 1.7%
• Asda sales fell 3.5%
• Waitrose revenues were up 2.7%
• The Co-operative saw sales up 1.5%, increasing its current market share to 6.3% – the first year-on-year share gain it has seen since 2011.

(Based on figures from Kantar Worldpanel, for the 12 weeks ending 8 November 2015)