Aldi becomes Britain’s 4th largest retail chain

LONDON: German-owned discounter Aldi has overtaken Morrisons to become Britain’s fourthbiggest supermarket group, helped by its popularity during the cost of living crisis, industry data showed on Tuesday.

Market researcher Kantar said Aldi’s sales increased 18.7 per cent over the 12 weeks to Sept.4, taking its UK grocery market share to 9.3 per cent from 8.1 per cent a year ago. Morrisons’ sales fell 4.1 per cent, with its share falling to 9.1 per cent from 9.8 per cent. Aldi trails market leader Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.

Aldi and fellow discounter Lidl account for 16.4 per cent of the market and continue to open new stores. Morrisons had been No. 4 since it took over Safeway in 2004. It has been owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) since October.

“Backatthestartofthe2010s,tesco,sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons together accounted for over three quarters of the sector, but that traditional Big Four is no more,” said Kantar’s Fraser Mckevit.

Morrisons said that market share is partly a function of new store openings, noting that it had not added any significant space for a while.

“Customers don’t really care about market share statistics;theycareaboutvalue,quality,provenance and service - and that is where our focus is going to remain,” a Morrisons spokesperson said.

Kantar said that grocery inflation hit 12.4 per cent in the four weeks to Sept.4, another record, adding 571 pounds ($670) to the average annual grocery bill. It said that products such as milk, buter and dog food were jumping up particularly quickly at 31 per cent, 25 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.