Asda achieved the strongest sales growth among Britain's big four supermarket chains in the Christmas quarter, though all lost market share to discounters Aldi and Lidl, industry data showed on Tuesday.
Researcher Nielsen said that sales at Walmart's Asda, which has agreed to be taken over by bigger rival Sainsbury's, rose 0.8% year on year in the 12 weeks to 29 December
Market leader Tesco chalked up a 0.4% increase, but sales at Sainsbury's and Morrisons fell 0.6% and 0.1% respectively.
In contrast, the Aldi and Lidl lifted sales by a hefty 11.7% and 13.6% respectively, taking their combined market share to 13.9%.
Changing Shopping Habits
Overall retail sales growth slowed to 1.8% in the four weeks to 29 December Nielsen said.
"Consumer grocery shopping habits are changing, with shoppers now opting to spend less on doing one big shop; instead preferring more frequent, smaller trips to the supermarket,
spreading the cost across multiple retailers to increase choice," said Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer insight.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
