Grocery sales growth in the UK has fallen behind the rate of inflation for the first time since 2009, with consumers reining in their spending, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel figures.
For the 12 weeks to end 20 March, the grocers grew sales by 2.6%, against a backdrop of 4% food inflation for the period. Meanwhile, the research group said that there was a sharp dip in sales between the most recent two periods with growth slowing from 3.9% last month to 2.6% this month.
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Kantar said the the figures were a demonstration “that shoppers are taking an increasingly gloomy view of 2011 and reining in their spending”.
Commenting on the findings, Kantar Worldpanel communications director Edward Garner said: “While there are no signs yet of the explosive growth in economy own-label ranges that we saw in 2008, there are now clear indications that value-for-money is driving retailer performance.”
Garner said the discounters were the big winners, with both Aldi and Lidl continuing their double digit growth from last month. Aldi increased its share from 2.8% a year ago to 3.1%. Meanwhile, Lidl grew from 2.3% to 2.5% in the same period – an all time record.
“Both performances are being driven by existing shoppers spending more, rather than by new shoppers visiting the stores,” said Garner.
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By GlobalDataFrozen food retailers also fared well over the period, with Iceland recording 4.2% sales growth, while Farm Foods was up 11.7%
However, Garner said that while “some shoppers have sought value for money this month, not all shoppers shared the same view”, with Waitrose posting market share gains, at 4.3% against 4.1% a year ago.
