Supermarket customers polarise, as premium and budget spending soars

Following the recent stats around FMCG being the biggest advertising spender past quarter, Kantar Worldpanel has shown supermarket share figures, and that the economic instability is causing customers to become more thrifty and look the lowest prices possible. These are explain why Sainsbury’s recently changed their advertising strap line to stay abreast of market trends in time for Christmas?

The figures also show that the discount supermarket chain Aldi is currently the fastest-growing retailer and now holds 3.5% of the market, improving its share by 25% year-on-year. Are all eyes now on Lidl?

Morrison’s registered the biggest growth among the “big four” supermarket chains, supporting the overall sparing trend. The three largest supermarket chains’ shares remain relatively stable, standing at 30.6% for Tesco, 17.3% for Asda and 15.9% for Sainsbury’s. However, since all three of them have recently launched discount campaigns, changes in their share are likely to appear in the next Kantar figures.

The latest figures point to the continuing “theme of two nations”, or the sharp polarisation of the retail market, as shares go up at the premium end of the market as well, despite the growing inflation. Waitrose’s share went up over 9%, whereas Tesco and Sainsbury’s registered double-digit growth in their premium ranges.

Kantar Worldpanel director, Edward Garner, said that low-price marketing has become the driving force and retailers need to show customers that they can beat inflation by offering attractive prices. That is why, retailers like Iceland and Lidl have improved their market shares by 10%, following Aldi’s growth.