‘Big four’grocers hit as discounters gain

THE ‘big four’ supermarkets are facing a tough Christmas after their sales fell again over the autumn – while Co-op and the German discounters soared.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons all lost market share in the 12 weeks to November 4, as did Waitrose, according to data company Kantar.

At the same time, Aldi, Lidl and the Co-op saw sales jump, along with Iceland and Ocado.

The ‘big four’ are also being squeezed by Marks & Spencer, which has switched strategy to focus on families doing one big weekly shop.

Leading supermarkets are gearing up for a Christmas price war with big savings expected, particularly on fresh produce.

The German supermarkets claim to undercut the big players in the UK on price by as much as a quarter, but the ‘big four’ are responding with cuts to the price of their basic ranges. In the

Christmas period the average family spends £380 on groceries in December, and there has already been £17m spent on mince pies and £3m on Christmas puddings this year.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar said: ‘The starting gun has been fired on the race to be Christmas number one. Shoppers will spend nearly £11bn in that month, showing how it’s a crucial period for retailers.’

Sales at Asda and Morrisons fell by 1.2pc and 1.7pc respectively in the 12 weeks to November 4, while Sainsbury’s and Tesco fell by 0.2pc and 0.6pc.

By contrast, Aldi saw sales growth of 6.7pc while Lidl’s grew at 8.8pc, pushing their combined market share to 13.9pc.

Overall, the ‘big four’ market share fell from 68.8pc in autumn last year to 67.6pc this year. Aldi is now the UK’s fifth-biggest supermarket, while Lidl is seventh but closing in on Co-op, which is sixth.

Co-op has quietly outperformed its larger rivals. It has grown continuously since May 2018 and sales increased again this period with year-on-year growth currently standing at 4.4pc.

Marks & Spencer, as it prepares to launch its food delivery business with Ocado next year, is starting to fight for a share of the family market. It is reducing prices on 400 of its most popular items by more than 10pc.

And, in a direct challenge to its larger competitors, it yesterday announced a new advertising campaign focusing on price, offering competitively priced basics such as eggs, milk and whole chickens. Ocado was the fastest-growing supermarket, increasing its sales by 13.5pc compared to last autumn. It now has 1.4pc of the market.

Kantar reported that pumpkin sales were up by 6pc this year, with more than a tenth of British households taking one home.

In the past decade, pumpkin sales have increased by almost two-thirds.

B&M bucked the gloom with like-for-like sales growth of 3.7pc in UK in the first half of the year.

Simon Arora, who co-founded it in the 1970s, said: ‘We’re in the same fast lane as Aldi, Lidl and Primark. The march of the discount retailers continues.’

Profits fell 70.5pc to £32.2m because of writedown on Jawoll, the German discounter. Its shares fell 5.6pc, or 21.2p, to 356.8p.