Aldi marketing offensive bears fruit while Tesco manages to stem market share loss
Aldi has continued to reap the rewards from its £4.5m ad spend at the beginning of the year, reporting a 19.3 per cent sales hike, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
Meanwhile, Tesco has delivered its strongest performance in 18 months, a positive sign for chief executive Dave Lewis as he battles to turn around the ailing brand.
However, its market share continues to be eroded by discounters, albeit at a slower rate than previously reported.
The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks ending 1 March 2015, show that Tesco sales are up 1.1 per cent year-on-year making it the best performing supermarket out of its 'big four' rivals.
“Tesco has been the standout retailer,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel. “Increasing sales have helped Tesco arrest its falling market share, which is down just 0.1 percentage point compared with last year.”
Asda, which competes for many of the same shoppers as Tesco, has suffered under Tesco’s resurgence with sales down by 2.1 per cent, taking its market share to 17.0 per cent.
Morrisons and Sainsbury’s both grew behind the market average with sales falling by 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.
Although Aldi’s sales marked its slowest rate of growth since June 2011, it was enough to take the retailer to a new record market share of 5.0 per cent.
Lidl also performed well, with growth of 13.6 per cent increasing share to 3.5 per cent.
McKevitt said the ongoing grocery price war has saved shoppers £400m in the past 12 weeks.
"All of the major supermarkets are cutting prices to win shoppers, especially within everyday staples such as eggs, vegetables and milk. Retailers are focusing their efforts on simple price cuts rather than complicated ‘multibuy’ deals," he said.
Aldi has remained focused on its ‘Like Brands’ message, with new creative for the campaign including a spot promoting essentials like toilet paper and nappies, launching in the past month.
It also ramped up the social media drive around its #AldiChallenge campaign to encourage shoppers to share the savings they make by moving away from the likes of Tesco, Aldi and Sainsbury’s.