Aldi threatens to overtake Waitrose

UK: The seemingly unstoppable rise of the discount supermarkets sees Aldi threatening to overtake Waitrose as the sixth largest supermarket.

The latest grocery share figures from market analysts Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending July 20, record an Aldi growth rate of 32%, lifting its market share to 4.8% and placing it just behind Waitrose on 4.9%.  Similarly, Lidl sales have grown by nearly 20% and it has held onto its record share of 3.6%.

Not that Waitrose is giving up without a fight: the upmarket store grew sales by 3.4% – a figure far better than those above them and well above the industry average.

Among the big four grocers, both Asda and Sainsbury’s have held onto their market shares of 17.0% and 16.6% respectively.  Conversely, Tesco and Morrisons have recorded losses with sales for both outlets declining by 3.8% compared with this time last year.

Iceland has posted a small drop in sales, its first since 2005, but has retained its 2.0% share.

With price inflation falling for the tenth successive period and now standing at 0.4%, market growth has fallen to 0.9% – the lowest figure for 10 years.