JSAIY J Sainsbury Plc (QX)

By Ian Walker

LONDON--German retailers Aldi and Lidl continue to take market share from the top four U.K. grocers, two surveys showed Tuesday.

Aldi's market share rose to a record 6.3% in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 26, compared with 5.8% a year earlier, while Lidl's rose to 4.6%, from 4.2% in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 28, 2016, Kantar Worldpanel said. Kantar monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K.

Separately, a survey by Nielsen Homescan shows that Aldi's market share rose to 7.4% in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 25, from 6.8% in the comparable period ended Feb. 27. 2016, while Lidl's rose to 4.8%, from 4.5%. Neilsen measures buying habits through its 15,000 geo-demographically balanced panel.

Still, at the top end of the scale, Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) has continued to increase sales for the sixth consecutive period, despite losing market share. Sales for the number one grocer by market share rose 0.6% to 7.85 billion pounds ($9.59 billion) in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 26, while its market share fell to 27.9%, from 28.4%, according to Kantar.

Sainsbury PLC's (SBRY.LN) market share in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 26 has fallen to 16.5%, from 16.8%, while sales have risen 0.3% to GBP4.47 billion, Kantar reports.

Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), saw its market share fall to 15.7%, from 16.2% for the comparable 12 weeks, with sales 0.8% lower at GBP4.26 billion. Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC's (MRW.LN) market share was unchanged at 10.6%, but sales were 2.6% higher at GBP2.88 billion

Up-market retailer Waitrose' market share rose to 5.3% in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 26, from 5.2% in the comparable period, and sales climbed 2.9% to GBP1.43 billion, Kantar reports.

Aldi's sales in the 12 weeks have grown 13% to GBP1.72 billion, while Lidl's sales have risen 13% to GBP1.25 billion.

According to Nielsen, Tesco's market share has dropped to 27.4% in the 12 weeks ended Feb. 25, from 27.7% for the comparable period ended Feb. 27, 2016, Sainsbury's fell to 15.8%, from 16.1%, Asda fell to 14.3%, from 14.7% and Morrisons was unchanged at 10%.

-Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 07, 2017 03:56 ET (08:56 GMT)

J Sainsbury (QX) (USOTC:JSAIY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024

J Sainsbury (QX) (USOTC:JSAIY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024