The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel show a drop in sales for the Co-op Group in a market marked by inflation and the continued rise of the discounters.
The Group’s sales fell by 1.5% over the 12 weeks to 3 December 2017, taking its market share down 0.3 percentage points to 6.0%.
Waitrose, part of the worker-owned John Lewis Partnership, saw sales rise 1.6%.
Total supermarket sales for the quarter rose in value by 3.1% year-on-year, with Kantar data showing that it now stands at 3.6%, increasing the price of items such as butter and pork.
Aldi was the fastest growing grocer, with its sales up 15.1% year-on-year, followed by Lidl whose sales grew 14.5% and market share rose 0.5 percentage points to 5.1%.
The Big Four supermarket multiples saw collective growth of 1.9%, making this their ninth consecutive period of increasing sales. Tesco – with sales up 2.5% compared to this time last year – was the fastest growing of the four. Despite its market share falling by 0.1 percentage points to 28.2%, Tesco remained the country’s most-visited retailer – welcoming 21 million households during the latest quarter.
Sainsbury’s grew sales by 2.0% year-on-year, with its market share falling to 16.3%. Meanwhile, Morrisons’ market share fell to 10.6%, despite a sales boost of 1.4% year-on-year. Sales also grew at Asda – up 1.2% – but it market share slipped 0.3 percentage points.
Iceland saw sales rise by 1.3%.
