Supermarket Sales Show Strong Growth, No Sign of Consumer Cutbacks

Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) has published grocery sales growth and market share figures for the 12 weeks to May 16th. They show no signs of a consumer cutback. Total sales are up 6.6%, with big share gains for Morrisons (sales up 8.7%) and ASDA (up 7.6%) at the expense of Sainsbury (up 4.6%) and Tesco (up 6%). Somerfield and the Coop continue to lose share, and independent stores are holding up well.

The much talked about growth in sales through cheaper priced discount stores seems to be more about shoppers at the now defunct Kwiksave seeking a similar type of store rather than a consumer flight to cheaper shopping. The total market share held by discounters last year was 5.7% and it is still 5.7% . At the other end of the scale, up market Waitrose held a 3.9% share both last year and this, indicating that consumers are still buying premium food. Overall, the only hint of a change is a small share growth for Iceland which sells lower priced frozen food.
The actual share numbers for 2008, with 2007 in brackets, are as follows:
%
Tesco 31.1 (31.3)

Asda 16.9 (16.7)

Sainsbury 16.0 (16.3)

Morrisons 11.4 (11.2)

Somerfield 3.7 (3.8)

Kwiksave 0.0 (0.2)

Waitrose 3.9 (3.9)

Iceland 1.7 (1.6)

Netto 0.6 (0.7)

Lidl 2.3 (2.3)

Aldi 2.8 (2.3)

Co-ops 4.5 4.3

Other Multiples 1.6 1.7

Independents 2.8 2.8