Rising supermarket sales are still being driven by inflation rather than shoppers buying more, new data from Kantar has revealed.
Take-home value sales at the grocers increased by 2.3% in the four weeks to 3 November to reach £11.6bn, while prices rose at exactly the same rate.
It means volume sales were flat, despite the number of shopping trips made hitting a four-year high, at 480 million.
“October 2024 was the busiest month for the supermarkets since March 2020, when people were preparing for the first national lockdown,” said Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt.
“Trip numbers have been going up gradually for some time, but this steady march hasn’t reached pre-Covid levels of shopping frequency just yet. The average for each household is slightly over four trips per week.”
Total till roll - consumer spend |
12 weeks to 5 Nov 2023 |
Share |
12 weeks to 3 Nov 2024 |
Share |
Change YoY |
|
£m |
% |
£m |
% |
% |
|
|
Total grocers |
33,248 |
100.0% |
34,010 |
100.0% |
2.3% |
|
Total multiples |
32,755 |
98.5% |
33,524 |
98.6% |
2.3% |
|
Tesco |
9,070 |
27.3% |
9,487 |
27.9% |
4.6% |
|
Sainsbury’s |
5,046 |
15.2% |
5,266 |
15.5% |
4.4% |
|
Asda |
4,490 |
13.5% |
4,242 |
12.5% |
-5.5% |
|
Aldi |
3,464 |
10.4% |
3,520 |
10.4% |
1.6% |
|
Morrisons |
2,851 |
8.6% |
2,918 |
8.6% |
2.4% |
|
Lidl |
2,447 |
7.4% |
2,628 |
7.7% |
7.4% |
|
Co-op |
1,966 |
5.9% |
1,925 |
5.7% |
-2.1% |
|
Waitrose |
1,509 |
4.5% |
1,552 |
4.6% |
2.9% |
|
Iceland |
724 |
2.2% |
743 |
2.2% |
2.7% |
|
Ocado |
558 |
1.7% |
611 |
1.8% |
9.5% |
|
Other multiples |
631 |
1.9% |
630 |
1.9% |
-0.1% |
|
Symbols & independents |
493 |
1.5% |
486 |
1.4% |
-1.3% |
|
Source: Kantar |
The 2.3% grocery price inflation means the rate has now been below 3.0% every month since the early summer. However, as it matches the latest rate of sales value growth, this also shows inflation is propping up growth.
Kantar’s latest market update also showed Ocado enjoyed another month as the fastest-growing supermarket. Its sales were up 9.5% year on year in the 12 weeks to 3 November.
Meanwhile Lidl was the fastest-growing bricks and mortar supermarket for the 15th month in a row, with sales up 7.4%, pushing its market share up 0.3 percentage points to 7.7%. The discounter secured 326,000 additional shoppers in the period, more than any other retailer.
There are also signs that Lidl’s devotion of more space to fresh produce in stores – revealed by The Grocer earlier this month – is paying off. Its sales growth in fresh produce was “particularly strong”, at 22%, according to Kantar.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s also outperformed the market, with sales growth of 4.6% and 4.4% respectively.
However, it was another terrible month for Asda, with sales down 5.5%, the worst performance of any major grocer during a tumultuous period for the supermarket.
The figures come days after nearly 500 Asda head office staff were made redundant.
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