Discounters fail to dent Sainsbury’s and Waitrose

SAINSBURy’S and Waitrose are the only top six British grocery chains currently resisting pressure from discounters Aldi and Lidl to expand their market share, monthly industry data showed yesterday.

Though data and surveys have indicated the outlook is improving for UK consumer spending, retailers are generally still wary as inflation continues to outpace wage rises.

In recent weeks, store groups, including market leader Tesco and number three Sainsbury’s, have highlighted the fact that consumers’ disposable income is still under pressure.

Sainsbury’s and Waitrose outperformed the market with year-on-year sales growth of 3.7 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively in the 12 weeks to 13 october, narrowly expanding their market share, researcher Kantar Worldpanel said.

However, their growth was dwarfed by a 31.7 per cent sales rise at Aldi, which gave it a record market share of 3.8 per cent against 3 per cent a year earlier.

Aldi more than doubled its profit in its UK business in 2012, as it attracted one million more shoppers and got existing customers to spend more.

Lidl also kept up its strong run with sales growth of 13.1 per cent and a market share of 3 per cent, up from 2.7 per cent.

Kantar said grocery inflation remained at 4.2 per cent for the 12-week period.