Aldi and Lidl Growth Potential - Three Key Numbers

Institute of Grocery Distribution research about how shoppers plan to buy their Christmas food reveals three telling figures about the potential for Aldi and Lidl.

Of those shoppers intending to visit a discounter -

-          62% will do so to save money

-          40% will go because of the quality of the food

-          17% will go because of fancy foods like lobster tails

The numbers confirm what we already know, namely that low prices are the overriding reason for discount shopping. But what may be surprising is that low prices are so much more important than quality.

Equally telling is the finding that, even at Christmas, only 17% will visit a discounter for speciality foods. The lobster tails and fine wines may be attracting the media hype, but at heart they are a publicity gathering fringe activity, unlikely to be generating big volumes. It is the low prices that matter to most discount shoppers, and the presence or absence of more exotic foods will not matter a jot to them.

The current gap between price and quality puts a ceiling on discounters’ growth potential, but finding the right solutions will not be easy.

The key is to understand what consumers mean when they talk about quality, but not all consumers will view quality in the same way.

Many regular Aldi and Lidl shoppers are delighted with the quality of the foods they buy there, not because they are prepared to compromise, rather they have tried the various products, and know the ones that they like. These precious core customers must not be alienated.

It is likely that the gap between price and quality is greatest among less frequent shoppers. But quality takes many forms. It could be lack of choice that makes shoppers down rate product quality. It could be simply that the discounter version does not taste as good as a branded equivalent. On fresh foods it could be lack of consistency -some days the products are top notch in terms of freshness, appearance, texture and flavour, but some days they are not.   Aldi and Lidl seem to have taken the view that the answer is to add a premium range akin to Tesco’s Finest or Asda’s Extra Special, and throw in the exotic range of food and wines. They will need to do more to bring the number of shoppers buying because of quality closer to the number buying on price, and they must not lose their price position in the process.

Meanwhile, their competitors have their own tightrope to walk, and theirs is the degree to which they can reduce prices, yet keep their shareholders on side. 

Recent performance statistics issued by Kantar Worldpanel indicate that quality issues are not yet hampering the discounters who continue to forge ahead, helped by a number of new stores, and the continued lack of radical pricing action from any of the traditional supermarkets There have been murmurings that the tide may be turning in favour of the mainstream supermarkets, but if so, it is turning very slowly.

Aldi and Lidl – How Big Can They Get?

This is a question being addressed with some trepidation in the boardrooms of traditional supermarkets, their anxiety heightened by the news that  Aldi and Lidl combined have now reached a 10% share of the Uk grocery market.  What is particularly scary is that it took 9 years for Aldi and Lidl to get from 2.5% share to 5%, but only three to double again to the current 10%.

 At the moment they seem unstoppable.

For starters they are building more stores at a time when all other supermarkets are contracting. Aldi and Lidl between them have plans to open 171 new outlets, compared with 29 for the Big 4, and Lidl has stated that it wants to more than double its number of stores, from 629 now to 1500. Aldi is aiming for 1000.

And , a factor that is not often commented on is that both companies are privately owned and so, unlike the Big 4, (Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons) are not constrained by shareholder demands for ever higher profits. The discounters can invest as much as they want, be it in ever lower prices, or store refurbishments, or colossal marketing campaigns, without wondering how the City will react.

Their aggressive marketing seems to be working. According to research company Kantar Worldpanel, Aldi and Lidl have added 1 million more shoppers in the last year, and they have gone more up market, with the result that 31% of their shoppers are now in the wealthier AB social group.

They have taken the upcoming Christmas season very seriously with blanket advertising campaigns, and glossy brochures given away free in Saturday and Sunday papers. A flip through the Aldi brochure reminds readers that they can buy Canadian lobster, British free range goose,  British RSPCA assured Bronze free range turkey, British leg of lamb, and British Caramel and Bourbon ham joint.

Lidl reminds us that it won “Grocer of the Year”, then points out its Marine Stewardship Council certified lobster, RSPCA assured pork, British Bronze turkeys, organic and free range eggs.

How clever to acknowledge major consumer trends in this way – British, welfare friendly, and a bit special.

Both companies pride themselves on their wine and spirits expertise, and compete well with the big 4. Aldi in particular has recognised a competitive opportunity by setting up an online wines and spirits arm, which, some suggest will compete with thatt offered by Waitrose.

So far so rosy. What might stop the march of the discounters?

Four factors could hinder growth

First, Aldi and Lidl might lose sight of what made them great in the first place, namely rock bottom prices . This is what happened to Morrisons who, in an effort to broaden appeal to more affluent shoppers, took their eye off their core customers who could no longer find the good value to which they were accustomed, and were turned off by gimmicks such as misted vegetables and overly fancy foods. There are already signs that this could be happening to Lidl who are refurbishing stores and changing their range of goods to more closely resemble premium outlets. 

Secondly, the big 4 might take decisive action on becoming price competitive, as opposed to tinkering around the edges, which is the case at the moment. Asda for example say that they have reduced the price gap between themselves and the discounters to 10%, and are aiming for a 5% gap. They say that 4 years ago the gap was 20%. Of course this assumes that the discounters would not reduce prices still further, leading to a zero sum game.

Thirdly, discounters might lose out because they do not offer online shopping, apart from the Aldi alcohol venture. Online growth is predicted to continue, as retailers make their websites easier to use, particularly on smartphones and tablets, and more convenient with initiatives like click and collect.

Fourthly, many shoppers feel that they cannot  get everything they want from the limited range offered by discounters which means having to shop twice. There may be some who find this too inconvenient to bother with the discounters.  

Where might it end? Growth rates are slowing from the heady levels of a year ago, but still run at around 16%. The general consensus among industry watchers is that Aldi and Lidl will achieve a market share of around 15%, similar to that in Ireland, due mostly to store openings. Whether they get much beyond that is debatable.  In Germany, discounters have a 37% share, but the trade structure is different to the UK with fewer traditional supermarkets, but Source: BPEX).

even here there are signs that growth is levelling off.  In France, which has a grocery trade structure similar to the UK, the discounters got to around 14% market share, but traditional supermarkets fought back and share in 2014 fell to around 12%. (

One thing is not in doubt though – the discount grocers are now a significant part of the British grocery scene, and will continue to be so as long as they stick to what they are best at – low, low prices.

Amazon Pantry Home Delivery – How Much of a Threat to Traditional Grocers’ Online Shopping?

The short answer is that Amazon will pose very little threat.

For starters, use of the Amazon service depends on being signed up for Amazon Prime, at a current cost of £79 a year, although there is a special offer of £59 for three days this week. Amazon won’t reveal how many Prime users it has in the UK, saying only that it is “millions”, but one would judge that it won’t be as many millions as are able to access online shopping without subscription handcuffs. Immediately the market opportunity for Amazon has shrunk.

Then there is the weird charging system for delivery. This goes by a price per box of £2.99p, with the ordering system telling you when your groceries are so bulky that they need to fit into another box, which costs 99p. Far less transparent than traditional online shopping where there is usually a set price up to a certain order value, and free thereafter.

And the  Amazon service is limited to dry goods only. It does not offer fresh produce such as meat, fish, vegetables or fruit. So the shopper either has to leg it to the supermarket, or has to log in to a traditional grocer to complete their weekly order, wait in for two deliveries, and probably pay a charge because this second order does not meet the minimum criteria for free delivery.

So what are the benefits of Amazon’s service?

Prices are cheaper in some instances. 100g Nestle instant coffee costs £3.00p from Amazon versus £3.30p in Tesco. However, Kelloggs Cornflakes 750g are the same price. Amazon is not offering branded goods at Aldi or Lidl prices which might have been an attractive strategy.

Shopping online is supposed to be easy and convenient. With membership a prerequisite, a complicated delivery charge, and only offering half of the groceries that are needed in the home, Amazon is anything but convenient. It is not cheap either.

Mixed Fortunes in Online – Waitrose down, Ocado static and Morrisons struggle with profit

The online conundrum continues. No one seems to have worked out how to find the holy grail of growth in both sales and profits.

Waitrose, purveyors of food to the well heeled, surprised market watchers last week with the news that their total like for like sales dropped by 1.3% in the last 6 months, the first decline in over 6 years. Even more surprising was the news that online sales plummeted by 13% due it seems to pulling out of promotional activity.

Ocado, equally upmarket, and an online only business, announced by contrast that its sales had grown by 15.3% in the last three months, roughly the same rate as in previous quarters.  Amount spent per order continues to drop.

Morrisons, who were late into online and partnered with Ocado to get going, did not declare sales, but CEO David Potts hinted at profitability problems, saying about the tie up with Ocado “ Its very important that it does become profitable growth. At the moment it is best expressed as an internet investment.”

Running an online operation appears to be a drain on both retailer and manufacturer profitability.

The Institute of Grocery Distribution just a week before the above results were announced published an article entitled “Five killerquestions to ask when moving online”. The third question, “can you invest for growth?”, resulted from  IGD’s finding that many manufacturers, even larger ones, are still mastering the basics of online retailing, and need to spend more money on developing their online offer, particularly in understanding shopper behaviour.

Operating in online grocery shopping does seem to come at a heavy financial cost.

ASDA - A Strategic Mess

ASDA have reported a 4.7% drop in like for like sales in the most recent quarter, and have slipped from second to third place in the supermarket pecking order, behind Tesco and Sainsbury.

A once sure footed and far sighted competitor with a crystal clear strategy now finds itself floundering in a strategic mess.

Here’s why.

ASDA identified the danger posed by discounters as long ago as 2013, and immediately announced that it would invest £1billion in reducing prices. At the same time it decided not to run promotions but to stick with an “everyday low price “(EDLP)strategy, which is what the discounters do.

The rest of the supermarket players eventually woke up to the discounter threat and have responded by a combination of selective price reductions, regular heavy promotions such as buy one get one free, and a promise to match ASDA’s prices on branded goods.

So ASDA is stuck in the middle. It was never as cheap as the discounters and is unlikely to ever be, so its EDLP approach cuts little ice with the dedicated discount shopper. And it offers little benefit over the other mainstream players who have managed to reassure their customers that they cannot buy more cheaply elsewhere, and in addition offered a raft of extremely good deals. ASDA does have its "Price Guarantee" of being 10% cheaper than its major competitors, but this only comes in the form of a coupon after waiting three hours, going on line, and entering the bar code on the receipt. Too much of a hassle for most. 

As a result shoppers cannot see the point of going to ASDA, and have drifted away in droves.

Andy Clarke, ASDA Chief Executive Officer, reckons that sales have now stabilised, and the only way is up. He has mentioned the need to improve ASDA’s online shopping service, and to address the quality of its food, however, both would only bring ASDAin line with what competitors are offering. There is mention of further cuts to get closer to discount prices, and of moving into petrol forecourts to capture the convenience shopper.

These are necessary moves but do not sound like a game changer. Without anwers to the fundamental issue of why shop at ASDA as opposed to other supermarkets, the sales decline is likely to continue.

Why Lamb Eating Quality Must Improve

It is a bad time to be a sheep farmer. The price for each lamb sold is nearly 20% lower than this time last year. Few businesses in any sector can stand such a severe drop in their income.

The reasons for the price fall are well known. On the demand side, a strong £ versus the euro means fewer exports to continental Europe, the Chinese and Russian markets are weakening, and China is reducing tanning capacity so wants fewer hides.  Most worryingly of all UK domestic consumption continues its downward trend.  And at this time of weak demand, supply is rocketing as New Zealand extends its season and the highest volume of home produced lambs since 2008 are forecast to hit the market this year.

Of all the factors contributing to the price drop, the only one within the industry’s control is domestic consumption. There have been recent calls for retailers to pass the lower price they are paying on to their customers, thereby stimulating sales, and calls for some retailers, who should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, to stop stocking New Zealand lamb at this time when UK lamb is at its best and the NZ version out of season.

Both would help, but they are merely a short term sticking plaster over the long term gaping wound of plummeting domestic consumption. The National Sheep Association in its “Vision for Sheep Farming” says that consumption has decreased by two thirds since 1990, from 7.5 kg per person per year to 1.9kg today.

The problem is this - consumers buying lamb are too often faced with a poor quality product, yet are expected to pay a premium price for it. And no one in the industry has grasped the quality nettle.

So what is “poor quality”?

The picture above, which is typical of what is sold in all of the supermarkets, illustrates the main problem which is fattiness. According to EBLEX 57% of consumers say that lamb tends to be fatty, and I would bet that the figure is higher among younger people.  The problem is compounded by retailers selling product where too much fat has been left on.  Indeed, Tesco has the gall to quote fat levels “when the product is trimmed of fat”. Often too, the bit of the product visible in the pack looks lean but turn it over at home and the underside is more fat than lean.

So put yourself in the position of the consumer who has shelled out for the most expensively priced meat on the supermarket shelf, and yet has to throw away as much as half of the product they bought. No wonder that 45% of people say that lamb is too expensive.

Lamb eating quality is also variable.  It is well known that the older the lamb, the tougher the meat. Ram lambs left entire develop odd flavours after about 30 weeks of age. Lambs fed on concentrates tend to become fattier, and their fat tends to be yellower which some consumers do not like.

So lamb is fatty, expensive and variable in quality. No wonder that the domestic market is declining at such a rapid rate.

The depressing thing is that all of this is well known, and has been for at least 20 years. The old MLC did a study in 1994 identifying the same issues.

Where will it end? It is not over dramatic to suggest that lamb will become a sideline product in UK supermarkets, only picked up by consumers when it is sold at a knock down price.  Already the amount of shelf space given to it is shrinking every season. It does not receive the same innovation push as other meats. Out of sight it will soon become out of mind to the average consumer.

With a small domestic market the industry infrastructure behind it will crack. Farmers will cease farming. There will be less abattoirs because volumes are too low for viability. Auction marts and hauliers will suffer.

The landscape will change too as sheep cease to graze the hills and moorlands.

Yes, there may well be an opportunity for niche lamb production, but the large scale lamb industry as we know it today will be no more.

Yet no one in the UK has shown the necessary leadership to galvanise the industry and get the problems solved.

Online Grocery Shopping - Pointers to Making a Profit But no Easy Answers

Half year results from Ocado, the company which only sells groceries on line, show that profit before tax fell to £7.2m compared with £7.6m this time last year. The decline is attributed to paying off interest on debt and accounting for depreciation charges.  CEO Tim Steiner confirmed once again that he is not particularly bothered about short term numbers.

This lacklustre profit performance comes despite a 15% sales increase, which makes Ocado one of the front runners when it comes to generating growth.  Tesco is growing by about 11% and Sainsbury by 6%.

So if revenue growth alone is not enough to generate profits, what might?

The ability to offer high price high margin lines alongside more basic products is key. The heavy intrinsic costs of running an online business (capital spend, delivery and picking costs, website maintenance) mean that online will not work on a low margin mix.

A high market share in densely populated areas helps, as it avoids delivery vans having to drive miles between customers. This could explain why supermarkets offer very generous money off incentives to use their online service, and have substantially reduced charges for home delivery.

Cost efficiency is vital. Some supermarkets pick orders in their stores, but there is a trend to building  “dark stores”, which are purpose built fully automated warehouses, and considered by many to be a lower cost method of operating. Ocado, having no stores, has operated like this since the start. Indeed it feels that its proprietary technology is so cost efficient that supermarkets will pay to have access to it. They already have a partnership with Morrisons, and are rumoured to be on the point of signing up another company.

Even when assembling orders is done in store there are opportunities for continuous cost improvement. A recent survey found that best in class order assemblers are three times faster than the worst.

Click and Collect has been viewed as a further way of saving cost, as a separate fleet of vans is not required. However, John Lewis’s announcement this week that they will charge £2 for Click and Collect orders under £30 illustrates that even this mighty retailer  finds it challenging to make an acceptable return.

All of which suggests that there is no easy path to online profitability. Indeed Andy Street, CEO of John Lewis when announcing the new charge reportedly said that many web based business models have become “unsustainable and “bonkers”. Words probably worth remembering.

Grocery Growth Forecasts - Severe Implications for Supermarket Suppliers

The Institute of Grocery Distribution has just published forecasts of growth in the grocery market to 2020. In a nutshell they endorse trends already highlighted for online and discounters, saying that sales will continue to power ahead in these sectors. They signal that growth rates in convenience stores will decelerate, and that big stores, whilst remaining the place where most of us will do most of our grocery shopping, will show a sales decline.

One could challenge the exact numbers, for example the near doubling of online and discounter sales seems optimistic, but the shape of the growth makes sense, and whilst pages of commentary have been written about the effect of the forecasts on the grocers themselves, few write about the impact on suppliers – which could be huge.

Here’s why.

The key issues are the nature of the shopping environment in the growth sectors, and the steps mainstream supermarkets will  take to maintain profits as sales through bigger stores start to fall.

Consumers shop online for reasons of speed and convenience. Sitting in front of a small computer screen, or worse still, fiddling with tiny buttons on an even smaller smartphone or tablet, they just want to call up a previous order, tick what they need, possibly look at what’s on “special” and check out. Few can be bothered with browsing through hundreds pages of products on the off chance that they see something that takes their fancy. So, if a product is not on a favourites list, or being sold at a discount then it will not be bought.

Discounters too offer a different shopping environment. Typically they offer a very narrow range and stock few national brands. So the chances of getting listed by an Aldi or Lidl are small, which means that many suppliers will miss out on the discounters’ growth potential.

Convenience stores, who may be growing more slowly over the next years, but will still be a big sector, can only stock a limited range because of their size.

On the other side, mainstream grocers, grappling with falling sales in their big stores, are on a mission to streamline, which means stocking fewer brands and fewer pack sizes.

The outcome of all these factors means that the winners in the next 5 years will be:

-           big global companies who can buy their way into wherever they want to go. Examples are Coca Cola, Unilever, Nestle 

-          middle ranking companies who own leading brands with a loyal following. Examples would be Warburtons, McVities , Mueller

-          suppliers of retailers’ own brands who can operate at lowest costs

-           niche specialist players who appeal to supermarket operators because they offer something genuinely different, and who only require a listing in a small number of big stores to be viable.

Companies who may need a strategic rethink are those with brands which are rarely top of mind, non essential,  poorly advertised and promoted, and often bought on impulse because they caught the eye in store. Examples of this middle group might be Dairy Crest, Premier Foods, and smaller confectionery and soft drinks companies.

The impact on suppliers does not stop there. These middle ranking businesses also have suppliers and they too will be squeezed. Either their products will not be required, or they will have to offer sharp prices to maintain the business. We saw signs of this with Premier Foods “pay to stay” demands. Premier swiftly saw the injustice of this. Other businesses might not.

Discounters, Convenience, Online - Growth but Momentum Slowing

The general consensus among supermarket watchers is that to grow sales you have to be represented in  the three growth areas of discounters, convenience stores and online.

Today’s results announcement from Sainsbury, Tesco results a couple of weeks ago, and the most recent Kantar Worldpanel figures on grocery market performance all provide helpful detail about how the three areas are performing.

It remains true that these three areas are still showing fast growth, but the rate of increase is slowing markedly.

Discounters

Aldi and Lidl are coming down from the highs experienced in early 2014, when Aldi was clocking up increases of 30% plus, and Lidl was growing in the late teens. Latest data from Kantar indicates that Aldi growth has slowed to +15% and Lidl to +10%. These growth rates do though remain streets ahead of rival supermarkets who all, with the exception of Waitrose, are in negative  territory.

Convenience

Sainsbury has shone here with a 16% sales increase in the last twelve months. They opened 98 stores last year and remain committed to opening around the same number in 2015. Their growth suggests that by stocking the right quality and range, particularly food that can be translated into quickly prepared meals, shoppers will prefer to buy locally rather than trek to a supermarket.

Tesco has fared less well, with their Metro stores showing flat sales for the first 6 months of last year, but climbing back to growth of 4% in the final quarter. These rates are well ahead of their performance in larger stores, and may accelerate if Tesco turns their whole trading performance around.

Online

The battle for online shoppers is fierce. Most stores have dropped their minimum order size, Sainsbury, Tesco and Asda to just £25 and Ocado to £40. Delivery costs have been slashed through offers like delivery passés. First orders receive an attractive discount.

Despite these lures, growth rates are slowing. Numbers of orders are growing, but are not being matched by revenue growth. Sainsbury reported a 13% rise in orders but only 7% in revenue, Ocado in the first quarter grew orders by 18% but revenue by 15%. Tesco did not report orders but revenue grew by 11% in 2014. These growth rates are some way off levels seen in previous years. They suggest that talk of online sales doubling by 2019 are optimistic, and that the already very slim profit margins from online sales are being further eroded. After all, it must cost as much to process and deliver a £25 order as it does one of considerably higher value.

Growth but what about profits?

Whilst representation in discounters, convenience and online may provide the elusive growth so many retailers and suppliers seek, all three present severe challenges. Online is a huge drain on profitability for retailers, and difficult for suppliers of all but the most recognisable of brand names. How, suppliers will be asking themselves, do they remind online shoppers to buy their goods, unless they pay for visibility on the computer screen via money off promotions.

Convenience also poses profit challenges for retailers because of the high distribution costs involved, and suppliers face the issue of limited ranges being available in such small stores. Suppliers are also strapped when it comes to getting listings in discounters because they stock such a limited range.

Growth is achievable by supporting discounters, convenience and online. The challenge is to operate profitably whilst achieving the growth.

Are Grocery Shopping Habits Changing as Much as the Hype Leads Us to Believe?

Waitrose and Sainsbury have recently reported trading results. Waitrose’s were shocking on the profits front, down 24%. Sainsbury is struggling with declining sales, down 1.9% on a like for like basis for the 10 weeks to 14^th March.

These two businesses are not alone in facing challenges. The average growth in sales through supermarkets changed from an annual average of 4.7% in the years 2008-13, to a growth of just 1.3% in 2014.

Conventional wisdom notes that deflation is playing a part, but attributes most of the slow growth to seismic changes in the way shoppers shop, citing the switch to discounters, the demise of the big weekly supermarket shop in favour of smaller buys from convenience stores, and  online shopping,

Few would deny that discount stores are taking sales from traditional supermarkets. Certainly price deflation is playing a part as commodity prices drop and mainstream stores try and compete with discounters. As for the rest, Kantar World panel, the research company, offers a different view, based on their panel of 30,000 households.

Kantar are saying that the number of supermarket trips per shopper each year has not changed – 221 trips in 2010, and the same in 2014.

Neither has the number of items per basket changed – it is 10.5 items per trip, the same as it was in 2010.

Nor are consumers shopping around more. The average household visits 5 different supermarkets every 12 weeks, just as they did 4 years ago.

The rise of convenience/ top up shopping seems somewhat exaggerated too. In 2010 40.5% of spend went on the main shop, it is now 38.8%. And sales through convenience stores grew by only 0.2% in 2014 compared with 2013. What is happening in the convenience sector is that the big supermarkets have expanded their reach into smaller shops, taking trade from the independent sector. The result is a virtually static market/

As to online shopping, this has contributed to growth rather than slowing it down.

So what is going on?

Understanding  grocery sector performance requires separation of slow market growth from structural changes. The main reasons for the big growth rates between 2008 and 2013 were rampant food price inflation and greedy supermarkets. Both are now being corrected as commodity prices fall and supermarkets scramble to be seen as cheaper, having realised that their rapid price hikes have left them exposed to damaging competition from the likes of Aldi and Lidl.

Structural changes impact profit in two ways. Internet shopping is considerably less profitable than store shopping. The former requires costly ordering systems, personnel to pick and pack the goods, and van drivers and vans to deliver to the customer.  In the latter the customer  bears all of that cost. The rise in internet shopping means fewer sales through  bricks and mortar stores, leaving them underutilised but as expensive to run as they ever were, a problem compounded by the rise of Aldi and Lidl resulting in even fewer customers walking through  traditional supermarket doors.

The one thing industry watchers do agree on is that prices will not rise any time soon, neither will grocery profitability 

Retailers Key to Driving Organic Market Growth

The Soil Association's market report for 2014 shows a 4% rise in sales of organic products, a welcome return to growth for organic devotees.

The performance by type of product has been well documented. Sales of eggs were up by 16%, yogurts by 14%,chicken by 8%, and milk by 3%.Veg sales were down 2% as were sales of red meat and sausages, which dropped by 6%.

The strongest sectors for organic produce are dairy, which accounts for 28% of all spending on organic foods, and baby foods where over half of all sales are organic.

Attention has been drawn to the role of brands in driving growth. Yeo Valley sales are quoted as being up by 13%, and there is talk of good performances from Rachel’s yogurts, and Green and Black chocolate.

Less well documented is the pivotal part that retailers play in the fortunes of organics.

Milk growth is being powered by sales in Aldi and Lidl, which jumped by 410% and 166% respectively. And sales of fruit and vegetables were propped up by these two retailers both of whom now stock organic variants. Aldi claims that their organic offer saves shoppers 30% versus prices in bigger supermarkets. Ocado, the online grocery retailer saw sales grow by 14%, broadly in line with their overall sales trends. Riverford Organics, the online box delivery service posted an 8% growth in the year to May 2014, taking their sales to £44.4 million, and Abel and Cole, also in the box business,  reported sales of £65 million, which according to owners Wm. Jackson represented “strong growth”.

Conversely, mainstream supermarket performance was patchy, with the best results coming from Waitrose, up 3.5%

.

What this all may suggest is that the organic label on its own is not enough to guarantee a secure future. Sales success seems to be down to a combination of operating in the right categories, choosing a strong and committed retail partner, and ideally, building a powerful brand where being organic is just one aspect of what makes the consumer want to pick it off the shelf.

Tesco Growing, Discounters Slowing, But No Sign of a Return to Traditional Shopper Behaviour

Its a funny old world when grocery market watchers are full of smiles when Tesco manages to grow by 0.3% in the 12 weeks to 1^st February 2015, but signal gloom because discounters Aldi and Lidl “only” grew by 21% and 14% over the same period. (Kantar Worldpanel)

It depends where the start point is of course and a move into positive growth for Tesco after months of dropping sales probably does seem like a turning point. Equally, when a company has been growing by over 30% year on year as is the case with Aldi, then a slow down to 21% may seem like a turning point too.

What is clear though is that there is no sign of a rush back to traditional mainstream shopping patterns. Sainsbury's sales are declining by 1% and Asda by 1.7%, and the evidence suggests that the march of the discount grocers is likely to continue, albeit at slightly lower growth rates.

Take for example Aldi’s stated plans. They have committed to opening 70 more stores in 2015, and one of these will be its biggest ever, at 19,0000 sq feet compared with an average of 16,000 sq ft just now. More stores mean more shoppers, and bigger stores with their capacity to offer a wider range may mean a bigger spend per shopper.

There is no doubt that increasing numbers of us go to discounters. The IGD says that 55% of shoppers visited a discounter in December 2014 versus 36% in December 2010. This could be due to well publicised offers on alcohol, but there are also signs that increasing numbers are using discounters to do their main shop – 15% in December 2014 versus 3% in December 2010. And shoppers seem to like what they find when they get there - 52% of those visiting a discount shop spend over half their food and grocery shopping budget there.

Whilst it is the retailers who tend to get the headlines, the changing shape of the grocery market continues to cause headaches for suppliers. There are the well documented demands for reduced prices and extended payment terms from the big 4 mainstream grocers, and in a total grocery market which is growing by just over 1% the demands are rarely compensated for by growth. The problems then deepen, as the discount sector which is showing growth, tends not to stock brands, and buys most of its product lines from abroad.

Online Grocery Shopping - Growth Rates a Bit Disappointing?

Grocery market watchers still predict a doubling of growth in online grocery shopping by 2019, and are quick to criticise companies who seem not to be embracing the channel with gusto.

The enthusiasm is perhaps understandable. After all, many product sectors like books and music are nearly all bought on line, clothing is increasingly so, as are household goods.

Certainly, online is growing fast when compared with sales through stores. Tesco’s online sales over Christmas grew by 12.9%, Sainsbury  by 6%, Ocado by 14.8% and Waitrose by 26%.

   

However, the ONS tells us that total online sales of grocery products were up just 6% in December, and a look at trends through major grocers tells us that the rate of increase is slowing markedly. This despite heavy promotions,  the advent of click and collect and increased ownership of tablet computers and smartphones which are supposed to make the whole online shopping experience cheaper, easier, and therefore more attractive.

Retailers are ploughing enormous amounts of money into building their online presence.  Tesco is currently charging just £1 for certain delivery times, and allowing £15 off  the first shop. Ocado is offering £20 off the first shop and free delivery on a Wednesday. Sainsbury offers £25 off the first shop and £10 off plus free delivery for subsequent shops.  Asda charges just £2 per month for delivery. The low delivery charges are especially profit draining given the cost of getting an online order picked, put on to a van which has to be taxed, insured serviced and fuelled, and dropped at the customer’s front door.

Click and collect and the chance of shopping on high tech gadgets do not seem to be catching on in a big way. A look at IGD data examining shopping behaviour shows that as of October 2014 just 26% of online shoppers were using click and collect. Data to April 2014 shows 18% shop on a smartphone and  23% on a tablet computer.

The same data suggests that online is still used infrequently. 21% of online shoppers  use the channel every week, and a further 11% use it every 9 or 10 days.

It is interesting to compare the growth rates of online - heavily promoted, technology friendly, highly service orientated with click and collect or drop at the door – with those of Lidl and Aldi who offer none of that, and yet grew by 15% and 23% respectively in the twelve weeks to beginning of January.

Consumers Unwilling to Splash Out on Groceries– Even at Christmas

Perhaps the most surprising feature of Xmas trading results from the major supermarkets is that even at this traditional “throw caution to the winds and spend” time of year, shoppers were not prepared to loosen their purse strings when it came to food and groceries.

We do not know yet what total supermarket sales were like over Xmas, but given Tesco’s 0.3% decline in like for like sales, Sainsbury’s 1.7% drop,  a not unexpected plummet of 3.1% from Morrisons, and a disappointingly flat performance from Marks and Spencer who are supposed to be immune from penny pinching habits, the picture is unlikely to be rosy. Waitrose fared a little better, recording a 2.8% increase, and discounters Aldi and Lidl are both claiming their “best ever” Xmas, but as the combined market share of these three companies is just over 13% their better numbers will not compensate.

Hence the racheting up of price cutting announcements from the “Big 4”.  In a time of low inflation with shoppers just not prepared to spend on food, the only way for grocers to grow is by stealing market share. Tesco is to drop the price of 350 core lines, and claims that over Xmas some of its vegetables were cheaper than Aldi.  Asda is to spend £300m on cutting prices in the first three months of this year, and Sainsbury £150m.

Where will it end? Many in the industry are saying that prices generally will need to be rebased  regardless of the impact on profit margins. Morrisons chief executive, the second CEO, after Philip Clarke of Tesco to lose his job due to poor performance,  has declared that the only way forward is to “neutralise on price”, and then find ways to differentiate from the competition.

The big grocers will be able to manage their way through price wars more or less unscathed through a combination of slashing costs and offloading real estate. They can cherry pick which products to price reduce, and the scale and duration of any cuts. They can, and will, raise prices on many goods to offset reductions on others.

The unknown and little discussed issue is the knock on effect to others in the supply chain, many of whom are small businesses, already operating on wafer thin margins.  The drop in commodity prices will help. And there may be a boost to demand. Consumption of beef and lamb for example has dropped due to high retail prices. If, on the other hand, goods are already being produced at below cost, as in the case of some dairy farmers, then a boost to consumption does not help at all.

What is clear is that a low price, low growth , low profit world is here to stay for those connected with the grocery supply chain.