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Take-home grocery sales increased 8.6% over the most recent 12 week-period as grocery price inflation reached record levels.
According to the latest figures from Kantar, grocery price inflation reached 17.5%, adding £837 to the average household’s annual bill, with prices rising fastest in eggs, milk and cheese.
Across the retailers, Lidl was the fastest growing supermarket as its sales rose by 25.8%. It achieved a market share of 7.4%. Aldi secured a new record market share this month at 9.9%, driven by a 25.4% increase in its sales.
Meanwhile, Morrisons saw a welcome return to growth with sales rising by 0.1%, giving it an 8.8% market share. Waitrose also had a positive period, pushing up sales by 2.1% to deliver the fastest rate of growth for the John Lewis Partnership owned supermarket since September 2021.
Asda sales also increased by 7.3%, just ahead of both Tesco and Sainsbury’s on 6.9%. Tesco remains Britain’s largest grocer with a 26.9% share of the market, while Sainsbury’s is on 14.8% and Asda 14.3%.
Frozen specialist Iceland performed strongly, increasing its market share to 2.3%, up 0.1 percentage point as sales rose by 9.6%. Convenience retailer Co-op now has a 5.7% share and Ocado’s market share remained at 1.8%.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Unfortunately, it’s more bad news for the British public, who are experiencing the ninth month of double-digit grocery price inflation. However, shoppers are taking action and clearly hunting around for the best value. Footfall was up in every single grocer this month, with households going to the shops just over four times per week in March. Apart from Christmas, that’s the highest frequency we’ve seen since the start of the pandemic.
“The supermarkets are also tackling grocery price inflation, battling it out to demonstrate value and get customers through their doors. This is a fiercely competitive sector and if people don’t like the prices in one store they will go elsewhere, with consumers visiting three or more of the top 10 retailers in any given month on average.”
