Morrisons lags as big UK supermarkets lose ground to discounters: Kantar

Reuters

Published Nov 12, 2019 03:54AM ET

Morrisons lags as big UK supermarkets lose ground to discounters: Kantar

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's big four supermarket groups lost market share to German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl in the latest 12-week period, with No. 4 player Morrisons (L:MRW) the clear laggard, industry data showed on Tuesday.

Morrisons' sales fell 1.7% in the 12 weeks to Nov. 3, trailing market leader Tesco (L:TSCO), Sainsbury's (L:SBRY) and Asda (N:WMT), which saw declines of 0.6%, 0.2% and 1.2% respectively, market researcher Kantar said.

In contrast, Lidl's sales rose 8.8% and Aldi's were up 6.7%, giving the discounters a combined market share of 13.9%.

Unlike the big four players, Aldi and Lidl continue to open lots of new stores.

Shares in Morrisons were down 0.4% at 0834 GMT, Tesco was down 2.1% and Sainsbury's was up 0.7%.

Overall UK grocery sales grew 1.0% over the 12 weeks. "The increase is slightly behind the equivalent rate last month, against a backdrop of political uncertainty and a persistently wet autumn," Kantar said.

Grocery inflation was 0.8% over the period, it said. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as fresh sausages, frozen fish and ambient cooking sauces, while falling in fresh poultry, butter and instant coffee.