Morrisons and the discount retailers performed well over Christmas even though the grocery sector is becoming increasingly defensive, TNS said this afternoon.
Its latest market share figures, for the 12 weeks up to 28 December, show Morrisons enjoyed growth of 7.7% and increased its market share to 11.9%.
Aldi sales grew 25.4% compared to the same period last year and the discounter also boosted its share of the market to 3.2%.
Other winners included Asda, with sales there up 7.2% and an increased share to 16.9%, along with Sainsbury’s (which had a 5.1% jump in sales).
Iceland grew its share to 2% and sales at the frozen food retailer rose by 13.4%, TNS added.
Last week Iceland announced it has bought 51 former Woolworths stores.
Director of research at TNS Worldpanel Ed Garner said: “This time it is interesting to compare the 4 weeks ending 28 December 2008 with the previous 4 weeks ending 30 November 2008 to see whether Christmas still happened for the grocery sector.
“Indeed this was the case with both Sainsbury’s and Waitrose outperforming the market as they traditionally do and premium private labels outperforming their value-based counterparts.”
Garner said last month these figures would be crucial to understanding the current retail landscape.
Below is the market share of grocery retailers. The turnover percentage change is on the right:
Total multiples 93.5% +6.2%
Tesco 30.7% +4%
Asda 16.9% +7.2%
Sainsbury’s 16.2% +5.1%
Morrisons 11.9% +9.7%
Somerfield 3.5% -1.1%
Waitrose 3.7% -0.1%
Iceland 2.0% +13.4%
Netto 0.7% +6.4%
Lidl 2.4% 11.6%
Aldi 3.2% 25.4%
Total co-ops 4.2% +1.5%
Total independents 2.4% +3.8%
Total symbols 0.8% +2.9%
Other independents 1.5% +4.3%
Source: TNS Worldpanel
Sales at symbol groups were up by 2.9% during the 12-week period, while at independents they were up 4.3%.
The figures are released after the British Retail Consortium and KPMG said found sales figures fell by 3.3% in December – the worst month ever on its survey.
