Asda Reclaims No. 2 UK Supermarket Spot - Survey
August 25 2015 - 5:34AM
Dow Jones News
By Ian Walker
LONDON--Asda reclaimed its number two spot in the latest game of
leapfrog with J. Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) Tuesday as supermarkets
continue to fight for market share, although both still lost share
according to a survey.
In the latest 12-week period ended Aug. 16, Asda--a subsidiary
of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)--saw its market share fall to 16.6%,
from 17.2% for the comparable 12 weeks ended Aug. 17, 2014. Sales
fell 2.5% to 4.15 billion pounds ($6.52 billion). Sainsbury's
market share fell to 16.3% from 16.4% but sales rose 0.1% to
GBP4.06 billion, according to Kantar, which monitors the household
grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative
households in the U.K.
In the earlier 12-week period ended July 19, Sainsbury's
reclaimed the number two position for the first time since
January.
"As anticipated, Asda has retaken its position as Britain's
second largest supermarket, despite a fall in sales of 2.5% and a
0.6 percentage point fall in market share," Fraser McKevitt head of
retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel said.
"The retailer's greater focus on non-food items means its market
share is traditionally higher in the summer, and it's expected that
Sainsbury's will again become the number two retailer towards
Christmas," he said.
Once again, upmarket store Waitrose and German discounters Aldi
and Lidl continued to grow market share and sales. For the 12 weeks
ended Aug. 16, Waitrose sales rose 3.7% to GBP1.26 billion and its
market share rose to 5.1%, from 4.9% in the comparable 12 weeks
last year.
Aldi and Lidl's combined market share rose to 9.7% in the 12
weeks ended Aug. 16, compared with 8.4% in the year earlier period.
Aldi sales have risen 18% to GBP1.4 billion, while Lidl's sales are
up 13% to GBP1.01 billion.
Number one retailer Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN)'s market share fell to
28.3% in the 12 weeks, compared with 28.8% in the comparable period
ended Aug. 17, 2014. Tesco sales were down 0.9% over the period to
GBP7.06 billion.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN)'s market share slipped to
10.8%, from 11%, while sales are 1.1% lower at GBP2.69 billion.
Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 25, 2015 05:19 ET (09:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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