City snapshot: Asda sales slump continues

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Asda has continued to record a slump in sales, with a turnaround at Morrisons beginning to take shape, according to new data from Kantar this morning.

Sales at Asda fell 5.6% to £4.5bn in the 12 weeks to 1 September, resulting in its share of the market sliding year on year from 13.8% to 12.6%, while Morrisons increased sales 2.7% to £2.8bn.

Overall take-home sales across all the supermarkets rose 3% over the four-week and 12-week periods to 1 September.

Ocado remained the fastest-growing grocer for the seventh consecutive month, delivering its quickest rate of growth since May 2021 with sales up by 12.9%. This put it ahead of the total online market, which expanded by 4.4%. The online-only retailer’s market share increased by 0.2 percentage points, to 1.8%.

Lidl’s sales were 9.1% higher than a year ago, with footfall in August boosted through digital vouchers for bakery items. It now accounts for 8% of the grocery market, having won share every month since April 2021. Spending through fellow discounter Aldi’s tills also rose by 1.3%, but share slipped from 10.1% to 9.9%

Britain’s largest retailer Tesco now takes 27.8% of sales, an increase of 0.6 percentage points since last year and its highest stake since January 2022. Sainsbury’s market share nudged up to 15.2%, while sales increased by 5.7%.

Sales at Waitrose increased by 4%, ahead of the wider market, while its share of spending stands at 4.6%. Frozen-food specialist Iceland grew by 4.4%, keeping its market share level at 2.3%. Convenience retailer Co-op now takes 5.9% of sales.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar,said despite grocery price inflation easing back to 1.7% over the past four weeks, shoppers’ financial confidence hadn’t risen with it.

“Memories of the last two years remain strong, with nearly 60% of shoppers still very or extremely concerned about rising grocery prices,” he added.

“This is their second biggest financial worry, only behind home energy bills. Retailers have been doing their bit to help shoppers keep the cost of the weekly shop down, and the proportion of sales on promotion increased year-on-year for the sixteenth month in a row in August. More than half of all grocery trips include some kind of deal, and this proportion rises as the trolley gets bigger.”