Press information
Peter Rogers/Alyona Levitin
Camargue
020 7636 7366
progers@camarguepr.com/
alevitin@camarguepr.com
10 March 2015
PRICE WAR DRIVES GROCERY DEFLATION TO RECORD LOW
The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks ending
1 March 2015, show that deflation has reached a new low of -1.6% as price competition between the
supermarkets continues to impact the market.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “A combination
of lower general inflation and the grocery price war has saved shoppers £400 million in the past 12
weeks, with deflation driven to a record low of -1.6%. All of the major supermarkets are cutting prices
to win shoppers, especially within everyday staples such as eggs, vegetables and milk. Retailers are
focusing their efforts on simple price cuts rather than complicated ‘multibuy’ deals.
“Among the big four supermarkets Tesco has been the standout retailer. It has posted its strongest
performance in 18 months with sales up 1.1% compared with a difficult 2014. Increasing sales have
helped Tesco arrest its falling market share, which is down just 0.1 percentage point compared with
last year. This resurgence has impacted Asda which competes for many of the same shoppers as
Tesco. Asda’s sales are down by 2.1%, taking its market share to 17.0%. Morrisons and Sainsbury’s
both grew behind the market average with sales falling by 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.”
Aldi has continued to grow well ahead of the market with sales up 19.3% compared with a year ago.
This is Aldi’s slowest rate of growth since June 2011, but it was enough to take the discount retailer to
a new record market share of 5.0%. Fellow German supermarket Lidl also performed well, with
growth of 13.6% increasing share to 3.5%.
Sales at Waitrose increased by 4.9% in the latest period. The premium grocer is selling more
products on promotion than it has done historically, in an effort to be more price competitive.
Waitrose’s market share has remained at its highest level with 5.2%, up 0.2 percentage points.
Ends
An update on inflation
Grocery inflation has seen its 18th successive fall and now stands at -1.6%* for the 12 week period
ending 1 March 2015. This means shoppers are now paying less for a representative basket of
groceries than they did in 2014. This is another record low since Kantar Worldpanel began recording
GPI in October 2006 and reflects the impact of Aldi and Lidl and the market’s competitive response,
as well as deflation in some major categories including vegetables, milk and bread.
*This figure is based on over 75,000 identical products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by shoppers and
therefore represents the most authoritative figure currently available. It is a ‘pure’ inflation measure in that shopping behaviour
is held constant between the two comparison periods – shoppers are likely to achieve a lower personal inflation rate if they
trade down or seek out more offers.
Kantar Worldpanel has launched a new data visualisation tool that allows you to view and analyse
Grocery Market Share data online. The latest sales share figures for all of the major grocers can be
viewed and compared with historical figures here and all graphics within the Kantar Worldpanel
dataviz are available to embed in your site. (Optimal viewing in recent versions of Internet Explorer or
Chrome)
MARKET SHARE - TOTAL TILL ROLL
Includes all expenditure through main store tills and excludes petrol & instore concessions
Total Till Roll - GB Consumer Spend
12 Weeks to 02 March 2014
£millions
Total Grocers
% **
12 Weeks to 01 March 2015
£millions
% Change
% **
%
26,115
100.0%
26,407
100.0%
1.1%
25,586
98.0%
25,890
98.0%
1.2%
Tesco
7,512
28.8%
7,591
28.7%
1.1%
Asda
4,572
17.5%
4,477
17.0%
-2.1%
Sainsbury's
4,452
17.0%
4,429
16.8%
-0.5%
Morrisons
2,909
11.1%
2,899
11.0%
-0.4%
The Co-operative
1,589
6.1%
1,555
5.9%
-2.1%
Waitrose
1,318
5.0%
1,383
5.2%
4.9%
Aldi
1,113
4.3%
1,327
5.0%
19.3%
Lidl
817
3.1%
928
3.5%
13.6%
Iceland
577
2.2%
574
2.2%
-0.5%
Other Multiples
727
2.8%
726
2.8%
-0.1%
529
2.0%
517
2.0%
-2.2%
Total Multiples
Symbols & Independents
** = Percentage Share of Total Grocers
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/KWP_UK and join the debate #kwpmarketshare.
Notes to editors
Please note that four week ending or six week ending retailer share data should not be used in media
reporting. We would recommend that you use the 12 week ending data stated in this release, as it
covers a longer time period which means it is a superior indicator of retailer performances and trends.
For all publicly-quoted Worldpanel data, users of our research (including media) must ensure
that data is sourced Kantar Worldpanel.
These findings are based on Kantar Worldpanel data for the 12 weeks to 1 March 2015. Kantar
Worldpanel monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 30,000 demographically
representative households in Great Britain. All data discussed in the above announcement is based
on the value of items being bought by these consumers, Kantar Worldpanel will only support data that
is published in the context we have presented it and our own interpretation of these findings. We
cannot be held responsible for any other interpretation of these findings.
For further information, please contact:
Peter Rogers/Alyona Levitin
Camargue
+44 (0) 20 7636 7366
progers@camarguepr.com/alevitin@camarguepr.com
About Kantar Worldpanel
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