Flickr/Patrick
The data on sales was taken in the twelve weeks up to the start of October and shows that amongst the
Sainsbury's was the only one of the "big four" - Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, and itself - to see revenues grow, and even then it only saw a rise of 1.1%. This growth came from strong performances online and in convenience.
Sainsbury's was also the only one of the major grocers not to lose market share, and though it didn't grow its proportion, it did well in comparison to Asda and Tesco, which both lost 0.7% of theirs.
Asda seems to be struggling the most of all the "big four". It's not only losing market share, revenues went down 3%.
The market share lost by Asda and Tesco went straight into the pockets of Lidl and Aldi. Both discounters are going from strength to strength right now. Aldi now has a 5.6% share of the market and has overtaken Waitrose as Britain's sixth biggest supermarket. The increase has been driven by a 17.6% rise in revenues.
Even though Aldi is the bigger of the two, Lidl is also killing it. Lidl's revenues went up 17.9%, helping it to grow its market share to 4.3%.
Fraser McKevitt, Head of Retail and Consumer Insight at Kantar Worldpanel said in a statement "For the second successive month Lidl has reached a new share high, now claiming 4.3% of the market and growth accelerating to 17.9%. Growth was particularly strong in Scotland, the scene of its 'smarter shopping' card trial. It's a similar story for Aldi, where revenues are up 17.6% on a year ago."
Kantar Worldpanel
Contrast Sainsbury's 1.1% revenue growth with that of the likes of Aldi, and it's obvious why some have called Aldi the best supermarket on earth.
Kantar's research also had good news for consumers, showing that in the past year the average UK household has saved £58 as a result of the price war supermarkets are currently waging against each other.
"With like-for-like grocery prices 1.7% lower than last year, the supermarket price war shows no signs of abating. Consumers have now enjoyed more than 12 months of continually falling prices and are currently pocketing these benefits" said Fraser McKevitt.