Waitrose sales fall, ending longest run of growth

Waitrose’ sales fell for the first time since 2009, the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel has shown, while Aldi saw the largest year-on-year gains in its market share.

Sales at Waitrose sales fell 1%, the data revealed, the first time the retailer has seen sales fall since February 2009. This effectively brings to an end the longest run of growth for any of the bricks and mortar supermarket excluding the discounters. During its run of growth, the retailer saw its share of the market rise from 3.9% to 5.1% today.

However there was better news for Aldi, which saw its market share rise 0.9% points to 7.6% in the 12 weeks to 4 November, boosted by a 15.5% sales increase. Rival discounter Lidl also saw double-digit growth, with sales up 10.2% and market share standing at around 5.5%, a rise of 0.4%, while The Co-Op saw its seventh consecutive period of growth, with sales up 5.1%, and its share of the market rising to 6.3%.

This came despite slower overall growth in the grocery market, which saw more sluggish growth in the period, even though sales across the market rose 2.6% – an overall increase of £663 million, primarily through top-up shops- but Kantar Worldpanel’s head of retail and consumer insight Fraser McKevitt said.

Both Asda and Morrison saw continued growth, up 2.6% and 1.5% respectively, while Tesco saw more muted growth of 0.4%, coinciding with a dip in its market share. Sainsbury’s reported a sale decline, down 0.6%, offset by a positive double-digit growth in its online channel.