Aldi hits double-digit market share for the first time

Aldi has hit double-digit market share for the first time, while Lidl has notched up another month as the fastest-growing supermarket.

Aldi’s market share reached 10.1% in the 12 weeks to 16 April, according to new data from Kantar today, up from 8.8% a year ago.

Lidl’s share reached 7.6%, up from 6.6% in the same period last year.

Lidl’s sales were up 25.1% year on year, just ahead of Aldi’s 25% growth.

Kantar head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said it represented consumers increasingly shopping around and visiting at least three major retailers a month to save money. “The discounters have been big beneficiaries of this,” he said.

“Retailers are really battling it out to show value to shoppers, but if consumers feel their offer isn’t quite right then they’ll go elsewhere.”

Aldi UK CEO Giles Hurley said: “Shoppers are voting with their feet by switching from more expensive supermarkets to Aldi.”

Total take-home grocery sales were up 8.1% in the four weeks to 16 April, with grocery price inflation at 17.3%, down marginally on the 17.5% recorded in the previous four weeks.

Despite the slight dip in inflation, McKevitt said it was too soon to assume it had peaked. “We’ve been here before when the rate fell at the end of 2022, only for it to rise again over the first quarter of this year,” he said.

“We think grocery inflation will come down soon, but that’s because we’ll start to measure it against the high rates seen last year.

“It’s important to remember, of course, that falling grocery inflation doesn’t mean lower prices, it just means prices aren’t increasing as quickly.”

Read more: Lidl outpaces Aldi on new stores despite slowdown

Own-label sales were up by 13.5%, with the very cheapest value own-label lines soaring by 46% year on year, against slower branded sales growth of 4.4%.

Morrisons’ share dipped to 8.7%, down from 9.5% a year ago, as its sales grew a meagre 0.1%. Its share is not only down year on year but also on a month ago, when it stood at 8.8% in Kantar’s last snapshot, covering the 12 weeks to 20 March.

Of the three biggest grocers – Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda – Asda grew fastest, with sales up 8.8% year on year, while Tesco saw the slowest growth, at 8%. All three are down marginally on market share compared with a year ago.

Waitrose’s sales increased by 3.2%, its best performance since June 2021, while Iceland achieved 9.4% growth, maintaining its level of share at 2.2%.

Source: Kantar