Sainsbury's Sales, Market Share Rise Over Christma
Post# of 94141
Source: Dow Jones News
By Ian Walker
LONDON--J. Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) was the only one of the top four grocers to gain market share and increase sales in the latest 12 weeks period, which includes the key Christmas trading period, according to the latest survey compiled by Kantar Worldpanel.
Outside the top four, German discount retailers Aldi and Lidl boosted both market share and sales, as did up-market grocer Waitrose.
Sainsbury's premium 'Taste the Difference' brand posted its biggest ever Christmas sales and promotional efforts were concentrated on simple price cuts rather than complicated multi-buy deals, Kantar, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K. said.
Sainsbury market share in the 12 weeks ended Jan. 3 rose to 17%, from 16.9% a year earlier, while sales grew 0.8% to 4.66 billion pounds ($6.65 billion), according to Kantar.
Aldi and Lidl's joint market share rose to 9.7%, up from 8.3% in the comparable 12 weeks ended Jan. 4, 2015.
Separately Aldi's market share has risen to 5.5% in the 12 weeks ended Jan. 3, from 4.8% for the comparable period in 2014. Lidl's market share has risen to 4.2%, from 3.5% in the 12 weeks ended Jan. 4, 2015.
Aldi's sales in the 12 weeks have grown 13% to GBP1.5 billion, while Lidl's shares have 19% to GBP1.14 billion.
Number one retailer Tesco PLC's (TSCO.LN) market share fell to 28.3% in the 12 weeks, compared with 29.1% in the comparable period. Tesco sales are down 2.7% over the period to GBP7.75 billion.
Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), saw its market share fall to 16.2%, from 16.8% for the comparable 12 weeks, with sales 3.5% lower at GBP4.43 billion.
Waitrose's market share rose to 5.2%, from 5.1% and sales climbed 1.5% at GBP1.42 billion.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN)'s market share fell to 11%, from 11.3%, while sales are 2.6% lower at GBP3 billion.
Earlier Tuesday, Morrison reported a 0.2% rise in like-for-like revenue, excluding fuel, for the nine weeks ended Jan. 3 and said it expects underlying pretax profit i the second half to be higher than the first.
Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 12, 2016 03:46 ET (08:46 GMT)
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