Tesco has grown its market share marginally for the first time since 2007 now holding 30.7 per cent of the market, as opposed to 30.6 per cent last year.
The latest TNS Worldpanel grocery market share figures, published for the 12 weeks ending November 1, show that Tesco has a growth rate of 4.7 per cent year on year, beating the market average of 4.4 per cent. This has also not happened since the end of 2007.
The next three retailers - Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons - have all continued to outperform the market and have therefore increased share. Morrisons again shows the highest growth of the top four supermarkets as it moves nationwide and consolidates the stores acquired from the aftermath of The Co-operative takeover of Somerfield. The Co-operative has also lifted its share as the estate builds.
Ed Garner, director of TNS Worldpanel, said: “Not only is this evidence of the impact of Clubcard 2 (the doubling of the discount to two per cent of spend) but also Tesco will be hoping for added impetus as the latest Clubcard mailout, currently taking place, puts coupons in shoppers’ hands in the run-up to Christmas.”
The buoyant performance of Waitrose, with a growth rate of 12.3 per cent - the highest recorded by the outlet since September 2005 - was deemed by Garner as “shoppers shrugging off the recession”.
He added: “The growth spurt enjoyed by the discounters at the end of 2008 has not been maintained - the sector share of 6.1 per cent remains unchanged year on year.”
“Grocery price inflation has further decreased since last month and the figure for the 12-week period ending November 1 is 3.2 per cent. This is the eighth successive drop in grocery price inflation in this series of reports. This means that the trading-down effect, which has been a feature of the recession, will now be much reduced. As always, it is also important to remember that the drop in inflation does not mean that prices are falling, merely rising more slowly.”