Morrisons

Morrisons sales are up again, according to the latest Kantar figures

Morrisons’ sales are on the up again, as Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose held on to their market share, the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel have shown.

Morrisons sales rose 1.8% year on year in the 12 weeks to 7 July, figures published today revealed. This continues a trend of recovery in 2013, from a low of -1.7% in January. However, Morrisons’ overall market share took a 0.2% dip to 11.7%.

Aldi held on to the record 3.6% market share it recorded in June, while Lidl and Waitrose took 3.1% and 4.8% respectively – with the latter chalking up 10.9% sales growth year on year.

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Trends among the big four retailers remained largely unchanged, with only Sainsbury’s managing to hold on its market share, at 16.5%.

“Sainsbury’s have managed to put themselves in quite a clever place,” said Kantar Worldpanel director Edward Garner. “They are ticking the right boxes on price with Brand Match and have a pretty good own-label range.”

Garner suggested that price-matching schemes were building customer loyalty, with consumers less likely to shop around if prices on branded products are the same everywhere. “Price is losing its impact as a differentiator. People are inclined to stick with where they are and what they know.

“This puts pressure on the store environment,” Garner added – citing Morrisons’ ongoing store refresh as one possible reason for its rise in sales.

Elsewhere, there was some good news for The Co-operative Group, which saw its sales inch up 0.2% on the year before, although its market share was down year on year to 6.4%.

Tesco’s market share hovered at 30.1%, followed by Asda on 17%.