Yahoo Finance Lidl overtakes Waitrose as UK's seventh biggest supermarket
Lidl has overtaken Waitrose as the nation’s seventh biggest supermarket after proving a hit with family shoppers, new figures show.
Lidl increased its market share to a record 5.2pc in the 12 weeks to August 14, according to research from Kantar Worldpanel.
The discount retailer has gained 0.7 percentage points of share in the last year, taking it above Waitrose and into the UK’s top seven supermarkets for the first time, as consumers turn further towards discount retailers.
During the three months, Lidl sales grew by 18.9pc on the year overall as it was boosted by families buying bigger baskets.
“Lidl is growing sales 40pc faster with families than with households without children,” said Fraser McKevitt, the head of retailer and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.
“Families tend to buy more items each time they shop, so strong growth with this demographic has helped Lidl to increase its average basket size year on year.”
Fellow discounter Aldi, the fifth biggest chain, also enjoyed strong growth as sales jumped 17.2pc.
Aldi boss Matthew Barnes said more shoppers were flocking to discount chains as "rising food price inflation continues to stretch household budgets".
Overall, supermarket sales grew 4pc in the three months, although disappointing weather meant that sales of ice creams and burgers fell by 9pc and 25pc respectively.
Sales grew at the ‘big four’ supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons - for the fifth consecutive period, but their collective grip on the market continued to slip.
Waitrose market share remained static at 5.1pc after growing sales by 2.8pc, helped by new shop openings and a 7pc lift of branded goods.
“This welcome period of sustained growth has not been enough to entirely offset pressure from the discounters,” said Mr McKevitt. “The big four now account for just 69.3pc of the UK grocery market - down from 76.3pc five years ago - and that looks set to fall further in the coming months.”
Meanwhile, like-for-like grocery inflation picked up as it increased slightly to 3.3pc, which equates to an additional £138 on the average household’s annual grocery bill. UK-wide, inflation stood at 2.6pc in July, according to the Office for National Statistics.
