Grocery sales up 4% as Lidl narrows gap on Morrisons

Take-home grocery sales grew 4% in the four weeks to 10 August, as Lidl also closed in on Morrisons’ market position as the UK’s fifth largest grocer, the latest data from Worldpanel by Numerator show.

The figures also showed that grocery price inflation eased slightly to 5.0%, down from 5.2% in July.

Sales of branded grocery items rose 6.1% over the latest four-week period, outpacing own-label alternatives, which increased 4.1%. The gap in favour of brands was the widest since March 2024.

Branded goods now account for 46.4% of all grocery spending and dominate categories such as personal care, confectionery, hot drinks and soft drinks. Premium own-label products also continued to perform well, with sales up 11.5%.

Worldpanel also revealed the trend towards quick-to-prepare meals remains strong. Sales of microwaveable rice, ready meals and chilled pizza grew 8%, 6% and 5% respectively.

Lidl and Ocado were the fastest-growing retailers in the 12 weeks to 10 August, with sales both rising 10.7% year-on-year. Lidl increased its market share by 0.5 percentage points to 8.3%, just 0.1 points behind Morrisons on 8.4%.

Online retailer Ocado also gained ground, up from 1.8% to 1.9%, while overall online sales grew 6.7%.

Tesco posted its largest monthly share gain since December 2024, growing by 0.8 percentage points to 28.4%. Sainsbury’s rose to 15.0% following a 5.2% uplift in sales. Aldi’s sales increased by 4.8%, giving it a 10.8% share.

Asda now holds 11.8% of the market, while Iceland’s 3.4% growth left its share unchanged at 2.3%. Spending at Waitrose rose 4.8%, as its market share remained at 4.4%. Convenience chain Co-op holds 5.4%.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: “We’ve seen a marginal drop in grocery price inflation this month, but we’re still well past the point at which price rises really start to bite and consumers are continuing to adapt their behaviour to make ends meet. What people pay for their supermarket shopping often impacts their spending across other parts of the high street too, including their eating and drinking habits out of the home.

“Casual and fast service restaurants especially have seen a decline in visitors over the summer, with trips falling by 6% during the three months to mid-July 2025 – compared with last year. The outliers in this are coffee shops which have bucked the trend.”