UK shoppers spend record £29.3bn at supermarkets in run-up to Christmas

Two-thirds of households visited Aldi or Lidl in the 12 weeks to 30 December as the pair took a combined 12.8 per cent share of the UK grocery market

Ben Chapman
Tuesday 08 January 2019 13:45 GMT
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Consumers spent £450m more in supermarkets than in the same period last year
Consumers spent £450m more in supermarkets than in the same period last year

UK shoppers spent a record £29.3bn at supermarkets in the run-up to Christmas as discount chains put more pressure on their larger rivals.

Two-thirds of households visited Aldi or Lidl in the 12 weeks to 30 December as the pair took a combined 12.8 per cent share of the UK grocery market, according to Kantar Worldpanel. Aldi’s sales jumped 10.4 per cent and Lidl’s 9.4 per cent during the period.

Among the big four grocers, Asda came out on top with a comparatively low 0.7 per cent sales growth.

Consumers spent £450m more in supermarkets than in the same period last year, a figure that will give some relief to the sector which is facing rising wages and fierce competition.

But the data suggests a continued shift towards lower-priced food as shoppers “trade down“ to discounters from more upmarket rivals.

That was bad news for Waitrose, which saw sales fall 1.7 per cent, and Sainsbury’s, which registered a 0.4 per cent decline.

Tesco’s sales moved 0.6 per cent higher and Morrisons edged up 0.1 per cent. Co-op grew its sales by 3.4 per cent, making it the only chain to expand faster than in 2017.

Savvy shoppers increasingly chased the best deals, taking advantage of voucher codes and visiting a range of supermarkets to lower their food spend at Christmas, research from Nielsen found.

Sales growth overall more than halved from to 1.8 per cent in the last four weeks of 2018, from 3.7 per cent a year earlier. Online sales were up 9 per cent and now account for 7.5 per cent of the nation’s spend on groceries.

Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer insight, said shoppers are now favouring multiple trips over one big shop, spreading the cost across multiple retailers.

“Moreover, with over half of consumers not confident about their finances, shoppers are more budget-conscious and the various promotions and price cuts are a response to help them manage their household budget.”

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Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said lower inflation had reduced total grocery spend.

“This slower inflation rate helped shoppers to manage their festive budgets, with 60 per cent of customers looking to make savvier decisions to make their money go further over the holidays.”

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