Asda’s share of UK grocery market slips while Lidl draws in shoppers

Asda’s share of the UK grocery market has slipped further, while German discounter Lidl continues to draw in shoppers, new data has shown.

The British supermarket saw its share of the market slip to 12.5% over the three months to November 3, down from 13.5% the same period a year ago, according to analysts Kantar.

Consumer spending at Asda fell 5.5% year-on-year.

Kantar said its analysis relates to overall take-home sales at supermarkets, not including food and snacks that are bought to eat on-the-go.

The data follows Asda reporting its quarterly results last week, in which it revealed a 4.8% decline in sales between July and September, compared with the same period last year.

Chairman Lord Stuart Rose said the supermarket will spend £30 million on getting more staff on the shop floor at its more than 1,200 UK stores.

He also said stores are “not as nice as I’d like them to be in terms of the experience and the visuals”, and that Asda had “probably lost a bit of sharpness on price”.

A spokesman for Asda said: “We know that there are some areas where we need to improve to deliver a more consistent experience for customers each time they shop with us.

“This is why we have invested to put more resource in stores and rebased our priorities around product availability, customer experience, and a revitalised trade plan.”

The retailer said this had already started to make a difference with “customers noticing improved availability both instore and online”.

Asda is the UK’s third largest supermarket, behind Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

However, it faces the prospect of being overtaken by German chain Aldi which is the fourth biggest supermarket in terms of grocery market share.

Aldi held a 10.4% market share in the three months to November 3, unchanged from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Lidl has been growing its overall share of the UK market as the low-cost grocer continues to open new stores and tap into demand among shoppers for cheaper deals.

Its market share rose to 7.7% in the latest period, from 7.4% the same time last year, with consumer spending surging by 7.4%.

Lidl has said it is opening 10 new shops in the UK before Christmas and has set its sights on opening “hundreds” more in the future.

Kantar’s data on Tuesday also showed that take-home sales across the grocers increased by 2.3% over the four weeks to November 3.