Aldi now fifth largest UK supermarket
7th February 2017
UK: German discount supermarket Aldi has overtaken the Co-op to become Britain’s fifth largest supermarket, figures released today reveal.
The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending January 29, 2017, show Aldi sales up 12.4% year on year. The retailer increased its market share by 0.6 percentage points to claim fifth place for the first time.
“Just a decade ago Aldi was the UK’s tenth largest food retailer, accounting for less than 2% of the grocery market,” commented Kantar Worldpanel’s head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt. “Since then the grocer has grown rapidly, climbing the rankings by an impressive five places to hold a 6.2% market share. Underpinned by an extensive programme of store openings, the past quarter has seen Aldi attract 826,000 more shoppers than during the same period last year.
Despite being overtaken by Aldi, Co-op’s 2% sales increase was still well ahead of the market, continuing a run of growth stretching back to July 2015.
The market continues to grow faster than it did in 2016, with supermarket sales up 1.7% on last year.
Morrisons was the fastest-growing retailer within the big four, increasing its market share for the first time since June 2015 with a sales uplift of 1.9% year on year.
Growing for the fifth period in a row – albeit at a slower rate – Tesco’s sales were up 0.3% year on year as its market share fell to 28.1%. Sainsbury’s sales remained flat, while its share fell by 0.3 percentage points to stand at 16.5%.
Meanwhile Asda’s sales fell 1.9% and its share dropped by 0.6 percentage points over the quarter.
Waitrose, Lidl and Iceland all continued to grow. Boosting sales by 3.4%, Waitrose increased its share of the grocery market to 5.3%, while Iceland – up 8.6% year on year – saw sales growth for the tenth consecutive period. A 9.4% year-on-year sales increase for Lidl buoyed the retailer’s market share by 0.3 percentage points, leaving the discounter holding 4.5% of the UK grocery market.
